A Different perspective
by The Shadows Blade
Summary: In cannon the Kyubi starts out as someone who just hates everything. Granted with his experience with humans that's not totally unreasonable. But what if he didn't just hate everyone and instead had a decent relationship with his jailers. Who knew it could make such a difference. -note first story- BRO-suke, good Kyubi Rinnegan/Sharingan Naruto NOT god-like
1. Prologue: A drop in an ocean

**AN: Well this is one story idea that wouldn't go away until I wrote about it. I'll go ahead and admit a lot of what happens here is cannon but kinda sets the premise for the story.**

**Basically in cannon we have the Kyubi who after he was released was taken control of by Tobi, and was always bitching to Naruto about freeing him, but here's the thing. To be taken control you had to go through the host first so in essence the Kyubi's jinchuriki was pretty much protecting him from being controlled by the sharingan but he never saw it that way. Basically this story is what if he HAD felt that way the whole time instead of just raging that he was in a cage. What if Kyubi and Kushina actually got along well? What if, knowing that Tobi would come back for him, Kyubi decided to help Naruto in memory of his parents? And what if, instead of hating Kyubi as he did in cannon Naruto felt that Kyubi was the only one who was always there for him? That's pretty much what this story is about.**

"**Kyubi(Kurama)/summons speaking"**

'_**Kyubi(Kurama)/summons thinking**_**'**

"speaking"

'_thinking'_

-In a secluded cave near Konoha;

"WAHHHH! IT HURRRRRRRRTS!"

That was the wail of one Kushina Uzumaki the current host of the Kyubi. She was currently giving birth to her son Naruto.

"**Calm down Kushina yelling isn't going to make it go any faster. It's just going to alert everyone in a 5 mile radius that you're giving birth."**

'_SHUT UP KURAMA BEFORE I CHAIN YOU UP AGAIN! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THIS HURTS! I BET THAT IF YOU HADN'T ENHANCED HIS THE UZUMAKI BLOOD LINE IT WOULDN'T BE HURTING THIS MUCH!'_

Even though the Kyubi was an entity of near infinite power it still didn't want to be chained up again so it shut up as it recalled how this the pain was in a way partially it's fault…..

_-Flash back no jutsu!...-_

_-In some place that's has no impact to the story;_

'_**Kushina there is something I want to talk to you and Minato-san about later.'**_

'_Ok'_

_Even though Kurshina and Kurama didn't talk much unless it was important they still had some sort of respect for each other to the point where they were on a first name basis so when Kurama actually did want to talk to Kushina or Minato they knew it was important._

_-line break-_

_-In Kushina's mindscape;_

"_So what did you want to talk to us about Kurama-san?" a man with bright yellow spikey hair asked._

"_Yeah! Usually you don't want to talk to us much unless it's important."_

"_**It's about your son."**_

"_WHAT! Is something wrong with Naruto-chan!? What is it!?" Kushina asked on the verge of panic. Even though she had only carried the child for a few months both she and Minato already loved him._

"_Calm down Kushina-chan, I'm sure if it was something like that Kurama-san would have taken care of it himself." Minato calmly interjected stopping his wife from working herself into a fit._

"_**Indeed if it was something like that I would have taken care of it myself without informing you as there would be no need. This is something of a more personal choice."**_

"_Oh… well what is it?"_

"_**Your child will have a very weak Uzumaki blood line."**_

_Even though Kushina cared about her almost-dead clan it wasn't something she really worried about that much. She could just have another child and she was planning on slowly restarting the Uzumaki clan in time rather than having to be part of the Clan Restoration Act (her status as a jinchuriki put an emphasis on her continued mental health something having multiple husbands could easily disrupt.)_

"_I'm sorry but I don't really understand why that would be a problem."_

"_**I wasn't finished. Having a weaker version of their bloodline his chakra won't be potent enough to counteract my ambient chakra running through Kushina's body, because of this he will most likely have whisker-marks."**_

_Now THAT was something that gave them pause. While many jinchuriki are given some ability due to their Biju without having to directly tap into their chakra almost none of them had any distinguishing physical markers like facial markings. The whisker-marks associated with the Kyubi's chakra were due to the gold and silver brothers. The gold and silver brothers Ginkaku and Kinkaku were two Kumo shinobi who tried to take the Kyubi for Kumo. They were eaten but survived by eating the Kyubi's stomach meat. In doing so they also absorbed some of his chakra which caused the tips of their hair to turn black and whisker-marks to form on their cheeks. Because of this the Kyubi's chakra began becoming associated the whisker-mark on their cheeks formed by some of the corrosive effects of the Kyubi's chakra. The reason Uzumaki Mito and Uzumaki Kushina didn't have any were because the powerful chakra of the Uzumaki's were able to resist the corrosive properties of the Kyubi's chakra. While they would form if they tapped into enough of it's chakra other than that there would be no constant physical markers._

"_Kushina-chan… that would be like painting a target on Naruto's back." Even though the hokage's son would definitely be watched carefully there was no guarantee that someone couldn't slip through to try to obtain the Uzumaki bloodline. It had already happened once._

"_I know Minato-kun, but what do we do?"_

"_**That is why I called you down here."**_

"_What do you mean Kurama-san?" Minato asked unsure what they could do in this situation._

"_**Due to having been sealed in two Uzumaki's now I have a decent idea of their genetic make-up. I could… manipulate your child's genetic structure so that his Uzumaki genes would become dominate however that would open up a new host of problems."**_

"_What do you mean Kurama? Wouldn't it just cause his chakra to become stronger?" Kushina asked. She understood why the Kyubi wouldn't make this change by itself but she didn't understand what other problem it would cause._

"_No…" Minato wasn't hailed as a genius for no reason. The gears in his mind where already turning"… it would also cause his physical appearance to change… his chakra would become stronger but it would also cause his hair to turn red… am I right?"_

"_**Indeed, once again you prove your position as the brains of the relationship.**__"____Kyubi said ignoring Kushina's indignant squawk Minato picked up where he left off._

"_That means Kumo might try to kidnap Naruto for their bloodline program like what they tried to do for you Kushina-chan." Minato concluded with a frown remembering the events that lead to Kushina's almost kidnapping._

_Silence reigned as both Kushina and Minato processed what this meant. _

"_There's no contest." While Naruto having the Uzumaki physical traits would make him a target for Kumo, his whisker-marks would make him a target for every power-hungry village out there that would believe he held the Kyubi. Not only that but there was also a chance that some enemy village would put together that Kushina was the jinchuriki of the Kyubi if they got ahold of Naruto and found out he didn't have the Kyubi._

"_As much as I don't like it I agree with Minato on this point. Do it."_

"_**Very well. Consider this my baby-shower present to you two."**_

_As Kushina and Minato began to fade from the mindscape, Kurama smirked and added almost as an afterthought._

"_**Ah yes by the way, this will probably make child-birth even more painful than it already would be because of my chakra also being in the womb. Just for your information."**_

_-In the real world;_

"_KURAAAAAAMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAA!"_

_-end flashback no jutsu-_

"Do you think she'll be ok? Minato asked nervously as he worked to repair the seal. Kurama wasn't trying to break out but the seal was still collapsing.

"Of course!" Sarutobi Biwako exclaimed. "This kind of pain would kill a man! But women are strong!"

"GAHHHHHHHHHH"

"Come on you can do it Kushina, Naruto"

-line break-

Unknown to those inside the cave the last ANBU fell as a masked man slipped through the walls of the cave…

-line break-

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH"

"I can see the head!" Biwako said trying to comfort Kushina,"Just a little more Kushina!"

"**It's ok Kushina your almost done." **The Kyubi offered from inside the seal as it's perch on a miniature moon began to crumble.

"Naruto come ouuuut!" Minato said as he tried to repair the seal.

As the sound of wailing filled the room Biwako hurried to wrap the new-born Naruto as she showed Kushina and Minato their new son.

"It's a healthy boy." Biwako said with a tender smile.

"Haha… I'm a father!" Minato said with tears running down his cheeks.

"Naruto… I finally get to see you..." Kushina whispered, exhausted from giving birth.

"**Hmm looks like it worked. No whisker-marks and a nice tuft of red hair."** The Kyubi said from within the seal with no small amount of pride in it's voice. It's not every day you modify the genetic make-up of a human.

"Whew… all right Kushina you can relax now. Kurama just sit tight I'm fixing the seal."

As Minato began to repair the seal he was interrupted by Biwako's cry as she hit the floor. Turning around he saw his new-born son in the arms of a man in a black cloak with a mask with one hand over the babies' face.

"Yondiame Hokage Minato Namikaze… step away from the host… or your son dies at the ripe old age of one minute."

'_How did he slip though the barrier and what happened to the ANBU stationed outside…'_ Minato thought as he prepared to move at in instants notice_ 'who on earth is he.'_

To his side his wife moaned in pain as she felt the seal begin to destabilize,_**'Shit whoever this guy is he's good. He did his homework and put us in an extremely compromising position.' **_The Kyubi thought as it tried it's best to reestablish the seal.

"Get away from the host…" the mask man demanded as a kunai slipped into his hand."… or do you not care what happens to the brat?"

"Wait… calm down!" Minato said as he tried to find some way to stall for time.

"You're the one who needs to calm down Minato. I myself am perfectly calm."

Seeing as how Minato wasn't moving the masked man threw Naruto in the air and tried to stab him with a kunai, but before he could Minato speed past him and caught the baby in mid-air.

"As expected of the yellow flash..." The sound of hissing was heard from the bottom of the blanket. "but what about the next one?"

Grabbing the baby in one hand and the blanket in another the yellow flashed disappeared.

"MINATO NARUTO!"

-line break-

-In one of Minato's marked safe-houses;

A small house in the forest exploded and a man shielding a baby where thrown out by the force. "Thank goodness… Naruto's unharmed.

Grunting as he pulled a piece of wood out of his shin. "_He forced me to use the Hiraishin. He's after Kushina and Kurama… and now I'm not with them!" _Gritting his teeth Minato teleported to the next nearest safe-house to put Naruto in a safe place.

-line break-

-A secluded clearing;

"What… do you want." Kushina said as she tried to stall for time until Minato arrived. Her seal, spread from her body, was wrapped around 4 stone pillars that surrounded a smaller rock in a lake as she was hung above the small rock.

"To take the Kyubi from you and destroy Konoha."

"What!?"

"**Kushina… this man has the Sharingan. He is going to take me from you. There is nothing we can do at this point. But if you were to willingly release the seal… it would give you some more time to live and give me one shot at ending him."**

'… _alright… but that probably means that you're going to be sealed into Naruto after this.'_

"The markings for Minato's Hiraishin which allowed for him to teleport to their location were incorporated into your seal."

"**I know but that is still better than being under this one's control." **

'_That also means Minato will probably have to seal you in Naruto… Can you promise me something?' _Kushina asked Kurama as tears streamed down her face.

"Minato is always protecting you."

"**What?"**

'_P-promise me that you will look after Naruto when I'm gone.'_

But now I've gotten him away from you." The masked man gloated as his Sharingan appeared in the single eye-hole of his mask.

"… **I promise."**

"Furthermore the seal is weakened after you gave birth… do you know how long I've waited for this brief mome-"

And the land shook as the Kyubi was released to the earth for the first time in almost one hundred years.

-line break-

"You'll be safe here." Minato said as he tucked little Naruto into a bed.

-line break-

"**DIE!" **Kurama roared as he swung his claw at the masked man….

-line break-

" Just wait here a bit Naruto."

-line break-

The earth shook as the Kyubi's blow crushed the area where the masked man stood.

"… **Something isn't right…"**

Almost on-queue the masked man seemed to phase out of Kurama's hand.

"Hmm…how interesting. I was told the Kyubi was an irrational creature filled with hate. "Drawled the masked man almost lazily as he made eye contact with the Kyubi. . "Oh well. It makes no difference."

"**Shit! Kushina get away…" **the Kyubi exclaimed as it's eyes changed from their usual shape into a Sharingan before it's pupils dilated completely.

"Just now the Kyubi tried to defend you… and now I will use him to kill you." The masked man said as the hypnotized Kyubi turned around and prepared to crush Kushina.

-line break-

"I have to go save your mom."

-line break-

As the Kyubi's claw approached Kushina she closed her eyes thinking of her newborn child who would have to shoulder the burden of being the next jinchuriki of the Kyubi.'_ Naruto…'_

However when she opened her eyes again she wasn't bloody paste on the floor but in the arms of her husband and they were on a tree on a cliff.

"It appears you still have the flash… but it's still too late." The masked man mumbled as he prepared to move to Konoha.

"Minato… Naruto… is Naruto… alright?" Kushina panted out as she felt her life slowly leaving her.

"Yeah… He's all right… He's in a safe place now…" Minato replied as he turned to glare at the masked man and the hypnotized Kyubi.

"Minato… you have to stop that man and Kurama… he's heading for Konoha…"

Minato remained silent as he jumped back to the safe house he left Naruto at.

"He teleported again… it doesn't matter… we now head for Konoha."

-line break-

-In the safe house where Minato left Naruto;

"Why?" Kushina asked when she got a look as to where Minato as brought her.

"It's fine…" Minato comforted Kushina even though he felt his own words rang hollow "You're with Naruto now."

"Naruto…" Kushina cried as she pressed her forehead against his.

Minato watching his wife cry as she slowly died clenched his fist as he prepared to go confront the masked man.

"Minato… one last thing before you go… Kurama… after he was released from the seal… he had one chance to attack the masked man before he was taken control of… the attack phased right through him…but it looks like he has to turn tangible to transport something... I think it some kind of Space-Time Jutsu "

"…. I understand… I'll be back soon."

"Minato… thank you."

-line break—

A five year old Uchiha Itachi sat outside of his houses patio as his new-born brother Uchiha Sasuke as a feeling of dread passed over both of them and Sasuke began to cry.

'_Don't cry Sasuke… as your big brother I'll always protect you… no matter what.'_

-line break-

In the streets on Konoha two people were discussing a matter of grave importance. These two people where a 13 year old Hatake Kakashi and Might Gai.

"Hmm can't we just decide by rock, paper, scissors today?" The white haired Hatake drawled.

"NOT THAT AGAIN? CAN'T WE HAVE A MORE YOUTHFUL BATTLE FOR ONCE?" The, dare this author say it, youthful Might Guy screamed at the top of his lungs.

"… Hey Guy… do you feel something weird? The air feels cold…"

-line break-

Smoking a pipe the aged third Hokage was looking at some paperwork when he sensed the Kyubi's chakra.

'_It can't be…'_

_-_line break-

Appearing in an ally the masked man knelt down and the night that would be known forever as the day of the Kyubi attack began.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Suddenly appearing in Konoha the Kyubi let out a might roar and began to destroy everything in sight.

-line-break-

"Sandaime Hokage-sama!" an ANBU appeared panicked "The Kyubi! The Kyubi has suddenly appeared in the village!"

Dressing in his black battle armor Sarutobi Hiruzen once known as the god of shinobi immediately took command. "I know! I'll take care of it! You all protect those who can't fight!"

"Yes sir!"

'_Kurama-dono… did you break the seal of your own volition or are you being controlled.'_

_-flashback-_

_-Kushina's mindscape_

The fouth and third Hokage stood with the Kyubi's jinchuriki in her mindscape, the Kyubi having called to tell them something important.

"_**Hiruzen Sarutobi… Minato Namikaze… and Kushina Uzumaki… what I am about to tell you is something I have only willingly admitted to three others who were in turn your First and Second Hokages and my previous Jinchuriki."**_

The three people in question looked around at each other. For only three other people to have known this it must have been a pretty big secret.

"_**The reason you receive little to no fuss from me being sealed inside you is because it is something I myself asked for."**_

That surprised them. What reason would a creature as powerful as the Kyubi have for wanted to be sealed?

"_**During the battle of the end… where Uchiha Madara"**_ Kurama spat out the name almost like it was a poison." _**fought your first Hokage it was a little known fact that Madara controlled me using his Sharingan. Since there is a clan of those with the cursed eyes I requested to be sealed inside your Shodaime's wife because I could sense her powerful chakra and that my own would not harm her. It was mutual benefit. She would be able to call upon my chakra in her time of need and I would never again be controlled by those cursed eyes."**_

Giving them a minute to let them possess this, the Kyubi continued.

"_**Look at my eyes. You can see how they are vertical slits correct?" **_After receiving a round of nods he continued. "_**When I am under the influence of an Uchiha my eyes ether become round and dilated like you humans or there is a pattern of a Sharingan."**_

_-end flashback-_

'_How did it come to this…' _Minato thought as he prepared to subdue the Kyubi. One moment it seemed like his family would have a picture perfect ending the next, his wife was dying, his son was going to have to be made into the next Kyubi jinchuriki, as no one other than someone with Uzumaki could handle getting the Kyubi sealed within them, and they had a serious information leakage. Before he could move, however, a hostile presence appeared behind him.

Spinning around and lashing out with his Hiraishin kunai he saw his attack pass though the man.

'_That must be the intangibility ability Kushina warned me about.' _ Minato thought as his hand was caught by the masked man. '_Since he turned tangible that must mean he's planning to transport me.' _

As the space around masked man's eyehole distorted Minato reacted instantly and teleported.

'_He jumped again… I'll have to suck him in the instant I touch him.'_

-line break-

-Near the destroyed safe-house;

'_He knows I am one of the only people who could seal the Kyubi …that's why he's coming for me.' _The Yondaime Hokage as he prepared for the masked man's arrival.

The masked man arrived in a swirling vortex seconds after Minato finished his preparations

"You… not many people could break through our barriers and have Space-Time Jutsu that advanced… not to mention you got though the Sandiame's personal ANBU like they were fresh Genin… not many people could do that… who are you?" Minato asked as he shifted to a battle stance.

"Then again I guess it doesn't really matter who you are… but then the question would be why you're attacking Konoha."

"Hmm… I guess you could say it was on a whim and for a plan…" The masked man said and he pulled down his hood and revealed a battle chain attached to his wrists.

"But I will say it was for war… and through that war peace."

'_For a whim and for a plan… that means ether that he has some plan for the Kyubi and attacked Konoha on a whim or he has some plan that involves weakening Konoha and getting the Kyubi was just the means…'_

"There is no hope f-!" was all the masked man could say before a kunai phased through his head.

'_It doesn't matter… I'll end him to eliminate a threat to Konoha all the same… revenge for my family is just the cherry on top.'_

-line break-

Speed is, while one of the fundamental aspects of combat, one of the most important. Maybe in an all- out brawl with no weapons or armor strength and stamina would also as important, but neither of those could help you when a knife slits your throat.

While the Yondaime might not have the destructive wood and water Nin-jutsu power of the Shodaime and Nidaime respectably, or the Jutsu arsenal of the Sandaime, his speed, un-rivaled in the elemental nations, his sealing skills, which included his famous Hiraishin which let him teleport instantly to a special seal that he could 'tag' on people/things, and his Rasengan, an original Jutsu that let him grind through any defense, all combined to make him a near unstoppable juggernaut in battle and first Shinobi to be elevated to a SS-rank in the bingo book and given a flee-on-sight order.

This is something the masked-man, Tobi, Madara or whatever the hell he wanted to be called, was experiencing first hand.

'_Shit… I don't know what exactly this seal is doing but I have to get out of here!' _Tobi thought as he blocked another knife strike to his neck as a kunai passed though him.

The seal that Tobi was referring to earlier was a seal spread out on the ground that Minato prepared before Tobi arrived. Basically what it did was interfere with his Space-Time Jutsu making it so he could only turn one part of his body intangible at a time. While it didn't stop it completely it did stop him from simply turning intangible whenever the Yondaime lunged at him. At the moment he was beginning to feel like a cornered rat. The kunai spread around the seal let Minato teleport to him whenever he got close to the boundary and when he tried to just suck himself into his own dimension he just got smacked down before he could finish moving. So far he managed to avoid any fatal wound and getting 'tagged' but it was only a matter of time.

'_This is taking too long.' _Minato thought as he sliced at Tobi with one arm and finally 'tagged' him with the other arm.

'_There!'_

Teleporting behind Tobi he smashed him into the ground with a Rasengan while simultaneously putting a contract seal on him.

'_Shit. The Kyubi!' _Tobi thought as the Rasengan exploded cratering the ground and kicking up dust everywhere…

-line break-

-In Konoha;

The leaf ninja were putting up a valiant effort against the Kyubi but it wasn't known as the strongest of the Biju for nothing. Hundreds had already died at its claws and the destruction of Konoha seemed all but inevitable when suddenly the Kyubi jerked as if it had been struck by something massive. Noticing this all the Konoha ninja jumped back as it jumped back outside of Konoha's walls before it lifted one clawed hand and grabbed its head.

-line break-

-With Minato and Tobi

As the dust began to clear a figure jumped out holding its arm. Landing on a rock that was sticking out of the now-destroyed ground the figure was revealed to be a badly injured and panting Tobi.

"Hah… huh… ha…"

'_Shit… even with all the training Madara gave me I still can't match up to sensei.'_

Turning towards Konoha Tobi thought. '_That last attack… if the seal hadn't been disrupted by the Rasengan and if I hadn't made myself intangible before that Rasengan exploded…'_

Dripping blood, the area around Tobi's mask began to distort and suck him in.

'_In my current state going for the Kyubi would be suicide… you won this battle sensei.'_

'_But I still won the war and I'll be back for the spoils.'_

_-_line break-

-In Konoha;

"KUSHIYOSE: FOOD CART DESTROYER!"

Suddenly appearing out of nowhere Gamabunta flattened the Kyubi. Seeing the Toad Boss all the Konoha Ninja regained hope.

"It's Yondaime-sama!"

"Yondaime-sama's here to stop the Kyubi!"

Almost as soon as Gamabunta appeared the Kyubi disappeared. Minato appearing from atop the Toad Bosses head jumped and down handed Sarutobi a scroll before disappearing.

Curious at what the scroll contained the Sandaime opened the scroll, scanning it before his eyes widened and burning the scroll. Gritting his teeth Sarutobi located Minato's chakra signature and sped after him. What the scroll contained at the front of his mind.

_Masked man with Sharingan attacked after birth_

_Released Kyubi_

_Drove off masked man_

_Sealing Kyubi_

_Take care of my son._

-line break-

-Miles away from Konoha;

"**Urg… I'm guessing you beat the man with the mask." '**_**My head is pounding…'**_

"Yeah haa… haa… I need to put up a barrier so no one interferes…" '_I'm almost out of chakra…'_

"… let me… I still have plenty of chakra…" Kushina said as chains shot out of her back, crossing to form a make-shift barrier.

"**I'm guessing you plan to seal me in the child." **The Kyubi said as it saw Minato summon a ceremonial pedestal.

"**Wait… that's!"**

"That's the Hakke Shikki Fuin(Eight Trigrams Dead Demon Seal)! You'll die if you use that!" Kushina exclaimed.

"**What are you doing Minato? There's no reason for you to use that seal!" **The Kyubi said just as surprised as Kushina.

"There is a reason… first is that I don't plan on just making this a seal." Minato began to explain as he ran through seals. "If Naruto had been born without the Uzumaki bloodline I would have had to seal half of your chakra in the Death God with me but since he was I don't need to. While the seal will dilute your chakra to stop it from unintentionally harming Naruto's undeveloped coils, once it is released and Naruto can handle your undiluted chakra, it will then work as a gate. With it you and Naruto will be able to use a form far more powerful than a simple full possession."

"Wait… why would he need that… I thought you defeated the mask man…"

"I did but I couldn't finish him...I realized two things today… the masked man who attacked you… he will bring catastrophe upon us… and this child is the one who will stop him." Minato said as he finished the last seal and summoned the Death God to seal the Kyubi into Naruto.

"Any last words? I'll seal the rest of both your and my chakra in Naruto after I use the Shiki Fuin so we can meet him when he's older… I also want you to help him control the Kyubi's chakra… but that will be far into the future."

"Naruto… don't be a picky eater… eat heartily… so you grow up big and strong… take a bath every day and keep warm… make sure you get enough sleep… make friends… true friends you can really trust… and as for women… don't fall for a strange one… find a woman like your mom… and don't become a pervert like Jiraiya…"

"Naruto… you will face many painful times… and hard times… but just be yourself… and have your dreams and the confidence to make those dreams come true… I really really really wish I could be there… to teach you so many more things… I really wish I could be with you longer… I love you."

"Naruto… as your father… I'll just second everything your mom said." Minato said before he looked up at the Kyubi.

"Kyu… no Kurama… you'll be there to watch him for us right… like a god parent right?"

"**Yeah I'll make sure to watch him… but since that pervert sensei of yours is his god father would that make me his god mother?" **Kurama joked with a grin.

"Heh yeah… I guess it would… alright are you ready Kushina… Kurama…?"

"Yeah."

"**Yes."**

_Fuin…_


	2. Chapter 1: Ripples

I don't own Naruto. An's at the bottem.

_Ripples_

It was a sunny day in Konohagakure no Sato and a boy with spikey, bright red hair and blue eyes was playing alone in the forest.

This boy was Naruto Uzumaki. Since the people at the orphanage weren't very nice to him he usually liked to be left alone. Sure he could just jump around and make a lot of noise so that people would look at him but there was this funny voice in the back of his head that told him not to. Granted he couldn't really hear the voice very well but he understood it was basically telling him drawing attention to himself would be a bad idea. It was pretty easy to avoid people because he could, in his own words, feel this weird feeling_, _where people were. Some people felt really big like the old man in the funny hat, who was nice to him, or that man with the white spikey hair who sometimes followed him around (when he asked the old man in the funny hat about him he said that the person was a friend of his parents and while he couldn't take care of him the man wanted to make sure he was safe.) but everyone felt different in some way. There were other people who followed him but once the man with the spikey white hair got to them they ether went away or disappeared... Thinking about it there weren't any other people who had as big a feeling as those two in the entire village and there was another person with a big feeling coming into the village…

-line break-

Kakashi Hatake couldn't help but smile as he saw his sensei's son scamper off into the foliage. The boy was just enough of both of them to be in his comfort level. If he was a carbon copy of ether sensei or Kushina-nee Kakashi didn't think that he could look at him without feeling the overwhelming guilt that anchored him to the memorial stone on a daily basis, it would be like reminding himself who he failed whenever he looked at the boy. Speaking of which, it was about that time of the day…

Creating a shadow clone to watch over his sensei's legacy the son of the White Fang shunshin'd to the memorial stone.

-line break-

Today was an important day. An ambassador from Kumogakure was in Konoha to try to negotiate a peace treaty but many of the upper level shinobi, including the Hokage, were wary of him. Many of them still remembered the failed kidnapping of Uzumaki Kushina many years ago and they wouldn't put it past Kumo to try it again especially with her orphaned son running around…(honestly who else in Konoha has that bright red hair?)

-line break-

-Night time just outside the Hyuga compound;

A figure darted out of the Hyuga compound carrying a black bag the size of a small child. Yasaka Hitori grinned, almost not believing how easy this was. While he was sent under the guise of negotiating a peace treaty his true purpose was to kidnap the Hyuga heiress for Kumo's bloodline program. While many people would think it was sickening to subject innocent young girls to such a thing Kumo didn't care as long as it got them more power. Pausing to catch his breath Yasaka caught a glimpse of bright red hair just before it disappeared into the bushes…

-line break-

Naruto was having fun playing in the forest just outside of the Hyuga compound when he felt that new signature that came into the village today. Oddly enough there was also a second much smaller signature with it. Deciding to check it out he hoped though the bushes until he saw the person carrying a child sized black bag. Figuring that the second signature was coming from that bag Naruto jumped off to warn the man with the spikey white hair. He was nearby…

-line break-

'_Shit I can't let that brat warn the village's security!' _Yasaka thought as he chased after our protagonist. Bursting into a clearing with an odd stone the Kumo Jonin managed to grab the child by the hem of his shirt.

Finally having caught up to the kid Yasaka finally got a good look at him and a feel of his chakra signature. _'Wait… bright red hair… massive chakra reserves for his age… holy shit! This kid is the last Uzumaki!' _Grinning madly as he ignored the kids squirming he thought about what kind of reward he would get for this.

Like just about every other village Kumo heard about the Kyubi attack. After doing some digging it was revealed Kushina Uzumaki died but there were rumors of a kid with bright red hair with massive chakra reserves running around after the Kyubi attack. The civilians all thought it was the demon reborn but the people at Kumo knew better. While rare, bright red hair wasn't limited to only Uzumaki's but all those with the Uzumaki special chakra had bright red hair.

"This is perfect. When I take you and the Hyuga girl back to Kumo for their blood line program I'll be set for life!"

Slamming the still squirming kid on the ground Yasaka prepared to knock him out when he felt a prick on the back of his neck and then knew nothing but darkness.

-line break-

Kakashi sighed as he finished tying up the Kumo-nin who tried to kidnap the Hyuga heiress and his sensei's son. While the nin would have probably been caught and killed by Hiashi, who was just now arriving to retrieve Hinata, the fact that he chased after Naruto meant three things.

-First that Kumo knew Kushina-nee had a son with the Uzumaki bloodline.

-Two while the nin was chasing Naruto at the time his main target was the Hyuga Heiress.

-Three and most importantly Konoha now had a bargaining chip. If the nin had been killed, even though he was trying to kidnap the heiress the treaty still meant that Kumo would still been able to demand reparations. However since they had the man alive and caught him in the act of trying to kidnap the heirs of two clans (not that one of them knew that yet) there was nothing that Kumo could demand from a legal standpoint and Konoha now held all the cards.

Turning around at looking at the red haired boy clinging to his leg he slowly patted him on the head to calm him down.

"It's alright Naruto. The bad man can't hurt you now." While Naruto wasn't treated very well in the village nobody actually ever raised a hand against him, fearing the wrath of those who cared deeply for him due to the fact the they had connected the dots and figured out Naruto was Kushina and Minato's child. On that note with the attempted kidnapping one of the Major clans of Konoha could probably demand to adopt him under the pretense of protecting him from future kidnappings. Kakashi knew for a fact that the Uchiha clan was trying to adopt him due to Kushina and Mikoto being very close and Fugaku actually being Minato's cousin twice removed(a fact very few people knew. The only reason Kakashi knew is because Fugaku actually approached him to try to get his support to adopt Naruto, feeling he owed his distant cousin at least that. Kakashi himself couldn't adopt Naruto because he was only 16 and was in ANBU but he did give Fugaku his blessing even though it didn't really matter at the moment due to the civilian council trying to cock-block them at every turn.).

"Ok let's go to the Old Man now." Kakashi said taking Naruto's hand

"Ho-hold on." Naruto's voice came out sounding as if he hadn't used it in days, which was probably true considering how he was treated in the orphanage.

Timidly walking over to the girl hiding behind who Naruto assumed was her father he stuck his hand out.

"Hello… my name is Uzumaki Naruto. What's yours?"

Blushing from behind her father's legs Hinata stuck her hand out and grabbed Naruto's offered hand.

"M-my name i-is Hyuga Hinata. I-it's nice to me-meet you."

"It's nice to meet you to Hinata." Naruto said with a small smile before he walked over to Kakashi.

"Ok… uh?"

"Kakashi. Hatake Kakashi." Said the man with a smile. Most of his face was covered by a mask and his head-band so it came out as his eye looking like an upside down U.

"Ok Kakashi-niisan. I'm ready to go."

"Niisan?" Kakashi asked with a raised eye-brow

"Yeah the old man says your always looking after me. Like an older brother would."

"Heheh… ok then let's go otouto."

Grabbing Naruto's hand and the tied up Kumo Shinobi both Naruto and Kakashi disappeared in a Shunshin.

-line break-

In the Hokage's Tower;

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed as he remembered how he was appointed Hokage again. After the Kyubi attack and his successor's death he retook the mantel to help stabilize the leaf. Trying to honor the Yondaime's last wish for his son to be seen as a hero he told the village as his status as a jinchuriki. The reaction was split down the middle. While the civilians called for his head many of the more experienced ninja's remembered about Kushina and her status as a jinchuriki and coming to the conclusion that during child birth, Kushina died and the beast had to be sealed into her son (the bright red hair helped many realize that) when it was released. Recognizing the sacrifice Naruto's family was making (even if they didn't know who the dad was) the Jonin and Clan Heads were quick to rein in any and all bias towards Naruto. Since then there have been many attempts to adopt Naruto but the civilian council was being petty and denied any and all requests due to that Naruto was technically a civilian. The Sandaime still remembered when he first brought Naruto to the council and his one-time rival Danzo suggested that he be turned over to him and made a weapon all the Shinobi clan heads stone-walled him and poured enough Killing-Intent towards the civilian council that they could barely control their bowels much less open their mouths.

Thinking about his old teammate Hiruzen couldn't help but feel disappointed. Danzo had become such a short-sighted fool in his old age. Believing that the village was the metaphorical 'King' he would do anything to anyone in the name of the village. He had forgotten Hashirama and Tobirama-sensei's reason for building the village in the first place. To create an environment where children wouldn't have to go out into the battlefields and parents wouldn't have to visit said children's shallow graves.

The Third Fire Shadow was broken from his musings by a knock on the door. With a tired "Come in", he looked up at the door and saw Kakashi holding a tied up Kumo nin with a sharp look in his eye he gestured for him to close the door and explain.

"Around eight thirty at night Naruto came across this Kumo-nin holding a small child-sized bag outside of the Hyuga compound. Knowing he couldn't beat him by himself Naruto came to find me but was seen by the Kumo-nin who then proceeded to give chase. Naruto was able to reach the memorial stone before he was overtaken. Hiding just before he arrived I heard the Kumo-nin's intentions of taking both the Hyuga heiress and Naruto back to Kumo for their bloodline program. I then subdued him as Hiashi-sama arrived. I let him take the Hyuga Heiress back to their compound while I brought Naruto to my apartment. After that I came here to report to you sir."

Sarutobi sighed as he took out his pipe and lit it with a small Katon Jutsu. "Take him to Ibiki and call the council for a meeting."

Honestly it wasn't surprising. Once you've seen one warmonger you've seen them all and Sarutobi had to deal with one on an almost daily basis. Still it was somewhat disappointing that Kumo played down to their expectations (every Konoha ANBU was deployed, creating an impregnable barrier around Konoha. No one was getting out without them knowing.). At least he could use this. Now they had a bargaining chip against Kumo and he could use this to strong arm the council into letting a clan adopt Naruto.

Speaking of adoption he pulled out a stack of papers out from his desk drawer.

After the Kyubi attack and the matter of Naruto's adoption came up, Uchiha Fugaku was the first one to offer. Granted the civilian council immediately shot any and all attempts down, but Fugaku was stubborn and refused to give up. Every other week he received a request from the Uchiha clan to adopt one Uzumaki Naruto but the civilian council immediately shot it down every time. At first he was suspicious seeing as how it was an Uchiha (not that anyone besides himself and the Kyubi knew that) that was behind the Kyubi attack but after some digging he found the truth about Minato and Fugaku's relationship and decided to give him his support.

Smirking he began to fill out the paperwork to adopt one Uzumaki Naruto into the Uchiha clan. He had the civilian council's number this time.

-line break-

-Council chambers;

"So it looks like Kumo really did try to kidnap the brat."

That was the voice of the Jonin Commander Nara Shikaku. He had predicted that since Kumo had already tried to kidnap Naruto's mom, they would probably try to kidnap him too if given a chance.

"Yep but I hear he wasn't captured by the ANBU we have around the village." Said a cheerful heavy-set man named Akimitchi Choza.

"Apparently Kakashi was the one who took him down. We have him in Interrogation and Torture right now." Added Yamanaka Inoichi the last of the first generation Ino-Shika-Cho.

The door to the Council Chambers opened to reveal the Hokage and his two teammates Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu. Settling at their seats at the end of the council table the Sandaime cleared his throat.

"We are here today to discuss two things. First is Kumo's attempted kidnapping of two clan heirs and the adoption of Uzumaki Naruto."

"I thought we already made our point clear! That demon isn't going to be adopted!" Said cliché council member one.

"That's right and there is nothing you can do about it! " Screeched a pink haired bansh- er I mean cliché council member two.

"That's where you're wrong." Said Sarutobi with a grin that was positively victorious..

"But I will get to that. At 9 pm a Kumo-nin was apprehended trying to kidnap the heirs of two clans. The near extinct Uzumaki clan." *insert flinch for cliché civilian council*"and the Hyuga clan. Because of this I feel it is appropriate to leave him in the tender mercies of Ibiki."

-line break-

-In a deep dark torture cell;

Yasaka Hitori was waking up. He felt his arms and legs restrained and he couldn't see or feel his chakra.

"_**Hello Yasaka. Would you like to play a game?"**_

"Oh thank god. For a second I thought they gave me to that sadist Morino Ibiki. I swear that guy gets his jollies off of torturing people."

Yasaka's blindfold was then removed… to reveal the grinning face of Morino Ibiki.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO-"

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-In the Council Chambers;

"-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" was heard all the way from the I&T department.

"Ahem… yes well as I was saying because of the negligence of the civilian council one of our bloodlines was almost stolen. There for I am forbidding the civilian council from interfering in any matters related to the Uzumaki heir Uzumaki Naruto."

"What! You can't do this!" Said cliché civilian council member number 3 as they were escorted out of the room by ANBU.

"Yes we can. Due to your bigotry you spit on the legacy of Uzu and in the process almost lost Konoha a powerful bloodline and our jinchuriki. While you might want to 'get rid of the demon' remember. In Kumo's hands that 'demon' might come back to exact vengeance." Homura said in a stoic tone.

"When Kumo learns that we have detained one of their head Jonin they will be out for blood. What I want are ideas that end in our benefit without war." Sarutobi said to bring the conversation back on track.

"Hiruzen you cannot be serious." Said Danzo as the one-eye'd warmonger monger'd for war. "They are obviously in the wrong here and since this is Kumo we are talking about they won't let it go unless we give them what they want or put their balls in a vice."

Taking a deep breath the Sandaime rubbed his forehead. "I know Danzo I know… I do have an idea that will in your own words '_put their balls in a vice' _but I want to hear the other's suggestion so we don't have to resort to that."

Surprised that Sarutobi was still capable of thinking like that Danzo simply nodded and stepped back.

Some ideas were dribbled around but it seemed no one was able to agree to a realistic solution. Some wanted to simply execute the Kumo-nin while others wanted to release him as a show of peace. However in the end it seemed that Shikaku lived up to his position as Jonin Commander and took control of the situation.

"Hokage-sama if I may?"

"Yes Shikaku-san what is it?"

"What do you plan to do if Kumo doesn't accent to our demands? I think it would be best if we had an accurate idea of how much of a trump card we have on them."

Sighing Sarutobi lite his pipe and took a long drag before he blew out the smoke.

"The man we captured is as I said a Kumo Jonin but what I hadn't mentioned yet is that he is one of their Head Jonin. Right now he is down in I&T having very piece of information in his brain being extracted by Ibiki and an assistant. As it is we have access to all of Kumo's dirty dealings so to speak. Every record of every kidnapping failed or successful. Knowing Kumo and how hungrily they amass power we could probably convince both Iwa and Mizu to go to war with them. With Suna and us that would be four of the five great nations all attacking one place. They would be completely crushed. However that vacuum of power would lead to the balance of the Nations destabilizing. Everyone would be trying to get as much as they could from the remains and it would probably begin the next Great War. "

Silence echoed in the chambers. Right now they had the opportunity to destroy one of the Five Great Nations but it would be the start of the 4th Great Shinobi War.

"No… causing the destruction of a Nation for a simple kidnapping attempt would be too much. That is why I want to find some other solution. What we know is that Kumo won't give us their Jinchuriki or give us any of their bloodlines. What else can we ask for? Jutsus? Resources? Someone give me something."

"We could ask for training for our Jinchuriki." Danzo said.

Silence once again greeted the room. Not because of the words spoken but because of the speaker.

Within Konoha Danzo was a well-known warmonger the fact was that he and Sarutobi often bumped heads because of their respective views on what was best for the village. Danzo wanted war and Sarutobi wanted peace. The fact that DANZO was suggesting a viable alternative that didn't end in war was enough to shock everyone into silence.

"I know that most of you think of me as nothing but a deluded fool wanting war for no reason, but hear me out. At the moment we are weak from the Kyubi attack but we have never had a jinchuriki of the Kyubi actually use its power. However during the last war rumors sprung up about Kumo's 'perfect host'. If we were able to harness the raw power of the Kyubi then Konoha's position as the strongest ninja village would be cemented once again."

"… very well. I believe that is a good idea. At the moment the peace treaty, even if it was just a distraction, is technically making Kumo our ally if we decide to ratify it. However Naruto-kun will not start until he believes he is ready and reaches at least Chunin rank. All agreed?"

"Agreed." Chorused the room.

"Now onto the second order of business, as I said now that the civilian council is no longer involved in decisions pertaining to Naruto-kun he can now be adopted without them stonewalling us. Since Fugaku has been the most… vocal… about his wishes to adopt Naruto into the Uchiha clan I will let him. Unless there is any objections this meeting is abjured. I need to prepare for when Kumo learns about their Head Jonin being detained."

-line break-

-Kumogakure;

"DAMNIT" followed by the sound of a desk smashing through a wall was the screen in the Raikage's office.

It was supposed to be a simple kidnapping but the damned ambassador overstepped his boundaries and got caught.

Sighing A the Yondaime Raikage rubbed his forehead. Sarutobi held all the cards in this case and he could only send another ambassador to try to negotiate his head jonin's release…

-line break-

-in Kakashi's apartment;

One red haired blue eye's child slept in a dreamless sleep the events of the night finally catching up to him.

This was the scene Kakashi happened upon coming back to his apartment. Seeing his sensei's son… so innocent and naïve… it made him want to put each and every civilian council member's head on a pike. He had come to tell Naruto about his new family… but he could always tell him when it was finalized.

Tucking Naruto in Kakashi decided to go to the living room and catch up on his reading…

-line break-

When the Kumo ambassador came to Konoha, he was simply give a scroll and told to be on his way. When he asked what was in the scroll he was told that it was Konoha's demands and what they would do if said demands weren't met. Figuring it somewhat odd he decided to look in the scroll. Paling rapidly the ambassador made tracks back to Kumo…

-line break-

-Kumogakure;

"At least they aren't asking for anything to drastic…" A sighed in relief. With the dirt Konoha now had on Kumo they would be able to set the rest of the Great Shinobi Nations on them like wolves on a piece of meat. They really screwed the pooch on this one. Trying to kidnap not only the last of the Uzumaki clan but also the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi, Kumo was lucky that Konoha didn't decide to just shoot first and questions later. On the bright side the alliance with Konoha would be smoothed over if Kumo agreed to this. It was a deal of mutual benefit for both sides but Konoha was still holding a metaphorical gun to Kumo's head in this one…

Grabbing a blank scroll the Yondaime Raikage wrote his response and prepared to send the scroll to Konoha. They might be able to get the Uzumaki bloodline just yet…

-line break-

-Konohagakure;

Sarutobi Hiruzen let the pipe drop out of his hand as he read Kumo's response to Konoha's demands. They had agreed of course but A had suggested something to further cement the relationship and eliminate any bad blood between their nations. An arranged marriage, but not just any arranged marriage.

An arranged marriage between Nii Yugito the Jinchuriki of the Nibi no Nekomanta and Uzumaki Naruto the Jinchuriki of the Kyubii no Yoko.

While it might end up giving Kumo the Uzumaki blood line, it would almost permanently tie together Kumo and Konoha.

Jinchuriki were inherently more loyal to each other due to the fact that just about every Jinchuriki grew up hated and scorned. If Yugito and Naruto ended up growing close enough and Kumo tried to break off the alliance Yugito would stay with Naruto rather than go back to Kumo, especially considering that she had no real connection to the Kage as most Jinchuriki did to secure their loyalty. The question is, however, if Yugito and Naruto would truly bond. Yugito was seven years old, a fresh Genin out of Kumo's academy even though she had been training with the Nibi's chakra her whole life. Naruto was three years old and not even aware of his burden. Sighing Hiruzen decided that once Naruto entered the academy he would tell him of Kurama the Kyubi. The academy would color Naruto's opinion of the old fox even though the attack years ago wasn't really his fault (not that anyone but him knew that). Not to mention how Naruto's parents probably asked Kurama to take care of their son. The reason the old fox hadn't made contact yet was probably due to how pumping enough of its chakra to forge a link to the boy would have killed him.

"All things considered this is alright for now… I hope Naruto can forgive me when he learns about this."

**AN: Ok finished with chapter one. To be honest compared to the prologue I wrote this chapter seems kinda meh. I appreciate the warm reception for my first story but only one review? Cmon guys reviews are a writer's lifeblood… kind of… not really. I'm just writing for fun but reviewing helps me figure out ways to improve and make my stories more enjoyable for you-all. Anyway the next chapter is going to be Meeting the Uchihas and Kurama, then the massacre and after-math(will probably be a shorter chapter) then we get into canon cause right now I'm trying to show how the ripples are becoming waves. I'm going to put up a poll on my profile because I've been wrestling with the idea of giving Naruto Shisui's Sharingan and having it evolve into the Rinnegan. NO this will not be a god-like Naruto story. Naruto will only be able to use Shisui's Kotoamatsukami like once a month and then the other Mangekyou power(He will eventually be able to unlock another Mangekyou power more on that in the future because I do have an explanation so no spoilers) would be sealed until Shisui's Kotoamatsukami was usable again and the Rinnegan would come with major nerfs to (to give you a decent idea of how hard I'm going to nerf it Shinra Tensei will have a one minute 'cooldown' and he won't be able to hurl freakin boulders or destroy entire villages. I'm going to do stuff like that across the board he will get more powerful just not all at once in the beginning). I don't plan on ether of them being his main weapons so to speak. To give you an idea it's like a fire hose with 7 different modes. He will be adaptable and have a seemingly endless amount of power but he can only out-put a certain amount of power at a time. Also the pairings aren't set in stone yet. I might make it a harem (there will be no physical action until part 2) I might not but I will be planting flags everywhere (huehuehue)**

**Edit1:Made council meeting more 'professional'**

**Edit2: Ok for those that think that Sarutobi just married off Naruto to easily let me tell you why. The benefits far out weigh the costs and as Hokage Sarutobi still has to do whats best for Konoha due to how they are still weak from the Kyubi attack and this wasn't something that would really harm Naruto. Marrying Naruto would have givin Konoha a strong ally and if Kumo ever betrayed Konoha, if Naruto and Yugito had bonded enough, Yugito would side with Konoha. Also this is a political marriage in a universe were special powers are hereditary. If Yugito and Naruto didn't get along Naruto could just marry another woman because he is the last of his clan. Also there is a chance that i won't make this a harem. All because a girl has feelings for Naruto doesn't mean he has to reciprocate. As I said i could make this a single pairing, a harem or i could have him die or leave the elemental nations before he gets any action(I would make a crossover where he does if i did this. I like happy endings but i'm going to make the characters work for it).**

**Edit3: Its confirmed. It will be a sad ending with a crossover. So no harem for Naruto. Flags yes. Harem no.**


	3. Chapter 2: Waves

An's at bottem I don't own Naruto or any references I may make in the fic.

Waves

A six year old Naruto was running though the Uchiha compound. It had been three years since the Kumo incident and his subsequent adoption into the Uchiha clan.

After crying tears of joy he asked why the Uchiha clan had decided to adopt him. His new mom, Uchiha Mikoto, told him that they were close to his parents. Even though he wanted to ask about his parents that odd burning in the back of his head told him not to.

When he was first brought back he immediately butted heads with Uchiha Sasuke, his elder by a few months even though he got along well with his other older brother Uchiha Itachi.

Naruto had come out of his shell the last couple years around people he knew due to his new family's love and affection. Mikoto practically showered him in it and while he and Sasuke butted heads, Sasuke still acknowledged him as part of the family calling him otouto, not just to annoy Naruto. Itachi did care it was just hidden under the stoicism. Fugaku was at first stoic like Itachi but over the years he adopted Naruto's approach to people and smiled more with his family. Though for some odd reason Mikoto would always tell him to try to stay in the Uchiha compound. When he asked why she would just say it was because she wanted to be close to her baby, and then proceed to smother him in her cleavage until he passed out.

Itachi was for lack of a better term near-emotionless, just like his father so you would think Naruto and Itachi wouldn't get along very well. It wasn't until he met Itachi's best friend, Uchiha Shisui, that he understood why.

After Naruto had opened up to Shisui, Shisui and Naruto hit it off immediately and only weeks after meeting him began to call him Shisui-oniisan. The rest as they say is history. With Shisui's love of using his hypnotic-Genjutsu to screw with the members of his clan and Naruto's new-found penchant for pranks the two began terrorizing the Uchiha clan and Konoha in general.

Speaking of pranks he had just pulled off one of his best pranks yet. He had snuck into the houses of each Uchiha who was in the Uchiha Police Force over the night and hide the Uchiha Police Forces spare uniforms, cloths and under garments, leaving only one uniform available for each of them to go out in…

"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT."

…That was covered in bright pink paint with orange accents.

Chuckling to himself Naruto jumped off the roof of the house he was on. Forming a chakra chain he used it to hook himself onto a tree branch and swung into the forest.

It was around a year ago Naruto had discovered his ability to form solid objects out of chakra. He had finally worked up the courage to ask about his clan and his mother. The voice in the back of his head (He didn't tell anyone about it. They would think he was crazy!) told him not to ask about his father just yet but, since Mikoto had said she and his mother were very close he decided to ask her about his clan and his mom.

Apparently he was part of this clan that was very good at Fuinjutsu and had a bloodline that had at least one of three traits.

The first of these traits was increased longevity and larger chakra reserves. Everyone born with Uzumaki blood in their veins had these. An Uzumaki who was 40 years old would look 20. In fact the longest any recorded Uzumaki had lived was almost 300 years.

The second was the ability to sense the people around them and their chakra levels. This was called Mind's Eye of the Kagura and Naruto had been passively using this trait in his early years to avoid other people.

The last and rarest trait was the ability to shape their chakra into physical forms for combat or just convent uses. Mito, the Shodai's wife, and Kushina Uzumaki had this trait; Mito's taking the form of a dragon, while Kushina's taking the form of chains. When Naruto tried to do this with his chakra he found he could shape his chakra into just about any form, but the strength and stability depended on his focus and how much chakra he put into the construct.

When he had gotten into an argument with Sasuke about which of their blood lines would let them be a more awesome Shinobi (Even though Sasuke hadn't unlocked his Sharingan yet.) Itachi had simply bonked both of them on the head and told them it wasn't the quality of the tools that determined a Shinobi's worth but the Shinobi himself.

After finding out about his clan Naruto immediately began training to unlock his chakra. It took him several weeks but he had eventually unlocked it and had begun practicing making shapes out of his chakra. When he would get tired from practicing with his bloodline he would read books about Fuinjutsu.

Soon enough Mikoto had found out and expressly forbidden him from practicing seals even though she was more than happy to let him read about them. She had even given him a book about sealing but for some reason she was adamant about him reading about a section that described Jinchuriki.

Jinchuriki were people who had these things called Biju sealed inside of them and were able to access the power of previously mentioned Biju.

Apparently a Biju attacked Konoha six years ago but the Yondaime Hokage used a Jutsu to defeat it at the cost of his life but Naruto wasn't sure exactly how one was supposed to kill a sentient mass of chakra.

Dropping into a clearing in the forest with a roll Naruto stopped for a second to focus his Mind's Eye of the Kagura. Sensing that the Police Force had apparently given up and gone back to look for their hidden cloths Naruto laid down eagle spread on the soft grass and closed his eyes to think about the thing that had been bugging him for the last week.

The Kyubi attack. There were so many inconsistencies in the stories the adults told the children it was like some bad plot in a shonen manga.

For one the Kyubi just _appeared_ in the center of Konoha for no reason. If it had some from somewhere then Konoha would have been able to see it ahead of time and prepare but no, the Kyubi just popped up in the center of Konoha and began killing people. That made no sense. The only way for the Kyubi to just appear inside of Konoha was if someone summoned it there, something he highly doubted with the amount of hate Konoha had towards the Kyubi itself. Also since after the battle of Uchiha Madara vs Senju Hashirama the Kyubi was sealed inside Uzumaki Mito… now that he actually thought about it his mother's last name was Uzumaki… and when Mito died, since there was no report of the Kyubi rampaging so that meant it was probably sealed inside another Jinchuriki who was kept secret, probably so that people wouldn't try to assassinate that person.

… wait… seals… Jinchuriki… people who had Biju sealed inside them… Uzumaki Mito the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi… his mother Kushina… Uzumaki Kushina… the Uzumaki bloodline of more powerful chakra… the date of the Kyubi attack… October 10th… his birthday… the Yondaime was a seal master…

And everything fell into place.

The glares, the hatred, why people treated him even worse on the Kyubi festival, why Mikoto wanted him to stay inside the Uchiha compound. It all made sense.

When Mito had died the Kyubi was sealed inside his mother Uzumaki Kushina. At some point Kushina had gotten pregnant with him. During childbirth she must have died causing the Kyubi to break free.

The Yondaime had come to seal the Kyubi but he couldn't just seal the Kyubi into anyone. The Kyubi's Chakra was extremely powerful and whoever he sealed the Kyubi into would have been roasted alive by the seal due to the Kyubi's potent Chakra, unless their Chakra was powerful enough to counteract it.

Powerful like the Chakra of those from the Uzumaki clan.

Wait.

If he was the Kyubi's Jinchuriki then the Sandaime would have told him right? His family would have told him right? They wouldn't have kept him in the dark about something this big.

'_That's right!' _Thought Naruto as he panicked and lifted his shirt to see if there was a seal and channeled Chakra. '_Tou-san and Kaa-chan would have told me when I asked them why people were always mean to me! Itachi-nii and Shisui-nii would have told me when I asked them what happened to the Kyubi! Sarutobi-jiji would have told me when I asked why I always had to hide during my birthdays so the mobs wouldn't hurt me! They wouldn't have lied to-'_

All thoughts were derailed as a spiral seal surrounded by 8 prongs appeared on his stomach.

**-**line break-

-Hyuga compound;

Hyuga Hinata was someone considered a failure by her clan. Even though Hizashi-ojisan and Neji-niisan always encouraged her to do her best she still never matched up to the standards her Otou-sama let for her. Sighing, she thought of that red haired boy that she had met four years ago during the Kumo-incident, Uzumaki Naruto… or rather Uchiha Uzumaki Naruto. After the incident he had been adopted into the Uchiha clan. Hinata wanted to see him again, seeing as how if it wasn't for him she would have been kidnapped by that Kumo-nin but whenever she asked her Otou-sama would just say 'We don't associate with Uchiha's.' He had become especially cold to her after her Kaa-san had died. Maybe she would see Naruto in the academy next year…

-line break-

-Forest Clearing;

Naruto didn't know how long he sat there in the forest clearing all he knew was that he wanted to be alone.

_Jinchuriki: The power of human sacrifice._

He had been lied to his whole life.

The reason everyone at the orphanage was always mean to him.

The reason he was always glared at outside of the Uchiha compound.

They all knew but never told him.

_The most powerful weapon of the Five Great Shinobi Villages._

He didn't know what to think anymore. In the book he read it said that Jinchuriki were often related to the Kage to ensure loyalty to the village. There was no way the Sandaime was his father, Grandfather maybe, but father no. But that wouldn't explain where he got his blue eyes from. Was that the only reason his family was kind to him? To ensure he was loyal to the village?

Due to Naruto being caught up in his angst spiral he didn't notice the person approaching him from the woods.

-line break-

Uchiha Shisui was always considered an oddball within his clan. Where most of his clan was stoic and expressionless he was more outspoken and when not on duty, wore his emotions on his sleeves. Sure he was a bit of a pervert but every man is.

These traits caused him to bond with Naruto once he had finally met the boy a few months after he joined the clan. While initially Naruto was distant to him, as he was with everyone he wasn't familiar with, Naruto gradually warmed up to Shisui and the two gained an unbreakable bond. When Shisui had introduced Naruto to pranks (it had originally been a ploy to get the kid to steal some girl's underwear) he had taken to it like a fish to water and the two terrorized Konoha on a daily basis even though Naruto seemed to have something on his mind lately…

While Shisui was walking through the woods he spotted a head of spikey red hair in a clearing in the woods

Speaking of the devil and he shall appear…

Looking at the sun he noticed it was getting pretty late. Mikoto would throw a fit if Naruto wasn't home by curfew so he decided it would be a good idea to get Naruto home.

"Hey there little guy hows it goin." Shisui said as he walked into the forest clearing with a grin

" Mfine." Was Naruto's answer, blue eyes hidden under his spiky bangs.

That set of warning bells in Shisui's head. When he first met Naruto the kid was damn near mute always trying to make himself appear as unnoticeable as possible. Naruto had warmed up to Shisui and over the years he had learned that Naruto was very vocal about his emotions to people he cared about. If he was upset about something then he would be bouncing all-over the place and in general raising hell. That he wasn't doing that and instead trying to bottle his emotions up meant that it was something big.

Sitting down next to Naruto, Shisui waited until Naruto was ready to talk. Being a Genjutsu specialist, even though Shisui was known for his Shunshin, he had a decent idea of how the mind works. Trying to pressure Naruto to tell him what happened would just alienate him. He had to wait until Naruto was ready to talk.

Sure enough after a couple minutes, "Why didn't anyone tell me about the Kyubi."

Putting an arm around Naruto, Shisui drew the boy into a one-armed hug so he was leaning on him.

"So you finally figured it out huh?" The Sandaime's law forbad people from talking about Naruto's status as a Jinchuriki but it didn't stop someone from comforting him once he finally found out.

"Well… there's a law that the Sandaime passed after the Kyubi attack that actually stops people from telling you under penalty of death."

"But still… why was it kept a secret from me when everyone else knew?" Naruto asked not understanding why the Sandaime passed that law.

"The same reason that Mikoto-obasan tried to keep you in the Uchiha district as much as possible. She and the Sandaime wanted you to have as close to a normal childhood as you could even with your burden. Don't think for a second any of us kept it from you out of spite. We just didn't want to see you grow up so fast." Shisui said as he rubbed Naruto's head.

"Oh… I guess I understand Shisui-niichan… that must be why Mikoto-kaasan wanted me to read that section about Jinchuriki in the Fuinjutsu book… so I wouldn't be confused and think I was the Kyubi." Naruto said as his eyelids drooped.

"That's right Naruto-chan… me, Fugaku-ojisan, Mikoto-obasan, Itachi… all of us, even though our first loyalty should be to the village and our clan, care more for you and Sasuke-chan more than anything in the world… never forget that." Shisui said with a gentle smile. When light snoring responded to him he lifted Naruto onto his back and set off for the Uchiha clan-head house.

-line break-

-Hokage tower;

Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but smile as he watched his surrogate grandson bond with his self-appointed brother. '_Still' _he mused '_the fact that he was able to figure out the events behind the Kyubi attack and deduce that he was its Jinchuriki when all the civilians are still in their own little fantasy worlds is astounding.' _

The boy definitely had Minato's intelligence. Minato was a considered a once in a life-time prodigy for multiple reasons. One of the most unnerving reasons was how he had a way of obsessing about things until he figured them out, his Hiraishin had come from him trying to figure out the mechanics behind the Summoning Jutsu, and his amazing ability of seeing underneath the underneath. It was simply impossible to hide things from the former Yondaime. He had figured out Kushina was the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi only months after having known her. Granted it took a year for him to finally figure out she was a girl… and almost a decade to figure out she was in love with him… moving on.

Long story short it seemed Namikaze men were surprisingly observant when it came to things no one else would see but because of this when something was obvious it would go right over their head…

Sighing Sarutobi figured that Naruto if have to meet the Kyubi sooner or later it would better for it to be sooner if he wanted to.

With that in mind he told his secretary to call someone who he thought would be perfect for the job.

-line break-

Uchiha Itachi was a prodigy. This was something he was complimented about on almost a daily basis.

Graduating the top of his class at age 7.

Mastering the Sharingan at age 8.

Passing the Chunin exams at age 10 and enrolling in ANBU half a year later.

Many were already saying he was on his way to ANBU Captain.

Yet almost nobody truly understood him. That small list included his little brothers, his best friend Shisui, his mother and more recently his father. Itachi let out a small smile at the thought of his adopted younger brother Uchiha Uzumaki Naruto.

The boy had this odd ability to have people just… gravitate towards him.

Where once his father was cold, distant and almost ignored Sasuke after living with Naruto for a year he began to change. He became more emotional. Spent more time with his family and no longer ignored Sasuke or doted on Itachi.

Sasuke who was once filled with jealously towards Itachi for his status as a prodigy and how everyone would always focus on Itachi mellowed out. With a new younger brother to spend time with, he no longer felt as neglected.

Even Itachi had been changing slowly. While he was still as expressionless as a rock he now voiced his opinion more often. Naruto's constant pestering caused him to spend almost all his time not training or in missions with Sasuke and him and he found himself caring even more for his little brothers. There was nothing he valued more than Naruto and Sasuke's safety. Not even the village.

When he brought this up with his mother she told him that he had his father's charisma and his mother's ability to just pull people into his loop no matter how hard they tried to swim against the current.

A few months ago when he had entered ANBU he had been informed of Naruto's status as a Jinchuriki. When he confronted the Sandaime about why Naruto didn't know the wizened old man told him that it was kept from him so he would have some measure of a normal childhood and he would be informed once he entered the academy. While Naruto's parents may have turned him into a Jinchuriki Sarutobi knew they would want to personally destroy Konoha if Naruto had been turned into an emotionless weapon like Danzo wanted.

Itachi had long since figured out Naruto's parentage .Naruto's parentage was simply just one question to his mother away, due to how she, Fugaku and Itachi would always meet with Minato and Kushina.

Hearing that he had a summons from the Hokage Itachi idly wondered what kind of game he would play with Naruto and Sasuke tomorrow…

-line break-

-Hokage's tower;

Hearing a knock at the door Sarutobi beckoned for whoever it was to come in. The door opened to reveal the emotionless face of Uchiha Itachi.

"You called Hokage-sama?"

"Yes Itachi-kun, sit down." Taking his pipe from his desk he lit it with a small Katon Jutsu.

A few moments passed in awkward silence.

"I wanted to tell you Naruto has figured out his status as a Jinchuriki."

Aside from a slight widening of the eyes Itachi had no outward reaction.

"I see… but that is not the reason you called for me is it?"

Sighing wistfully the Sandaime let out a rueful chuckle as he made a signal for the ANBU in the room to leave and turned on the silencing seal.

"Aye… you truly are a prodigy Itachi-kun but first to understand this order you first know the truth of The Night of the Kyubi attack.

"The truth of The Night of the Kyubi attack?"

Turning around Sarutobi nodded with a serious look in his eyes. "Itachi… what I am about to tell you to is to be classified as a rank-SS secret. If it were not for your rising ranks within ANBU and how close Naruto holds you to his own heart you would not be hearing this. Do you understand? Do not betray my trust."

Nodding once Itachi focused and made sure to commit the following conversation to his memory.

"I'm sure you're aware of the battle between Madara and Hashirama. Where Madara tried to use the Kyubi to gain an edge but inevitably lost causing the Kyubi to be sealed into Uzumaki Mito?"

Itachi nodded. There was no Uchiha who didn't know about that battle.

"However something you don't know… is that the Kyubi requested to be sealed into Mito."

"What?"

"Indeed. Due to the Kyubi being controlled by Madara's Sharingan it requested to be sealed into Uzumaki Mito so it could not be controlled again. The Kyubi is actually quiet an intelligent creature."

"If that is the case then why did the Kyubi attack Konoha?"

"While the Kyubi did attack Konoha… it wasn't of its own will."

Eyes narrowing Itachi immediately reached a conclusion. "You believe an Uchiha to be the cause of the Kyubi attack." He stated.

"Hold on now Itachi-kun let me finish. The fact that the Kyubi can be controlled by a Sharingan is a fact now only known between 4 people now. You, me, the Kyubi and the perpetrator of the attack. However there have been rumors flying about along those lines. Konoha is starting to believe the Uchiha Clan as a whole to be responsible for the attack."

"That is absu-!" Itachi began to protest before he was cut off by the Sandaime.

"I know. Fugaku and Mikoto were very close to Minato and Kushina. I believe a lone Uchiha was responsible. I was simply telling you the general consensus around the village. Don't be so hasty Itachi-kun."

"My apologies Hokage-sama."

"It is fine; I would have reacted the same way. However I would ask you to keep an eye on your clan for me in case you may find out the identity of this mysterious Uchiha."

"Very well Hokage-sama… but how do you know it was an Uchiha?"

"I will get to that to Itachi-kun. Now when Mito died the Kyubi had to be sealed into a new host. That new host was Uzumaki Kushina."

"Naruto's mother..."

"Yes… now there is one time when a female Jinchuriki's seal weakens enough for their Biju to be released… during child birth."

"... And when Naruto was born the person attacked Kushina, ripped the Kyubi from the seal and used it to attack Konoha... if I may ask Hokage-sama?"

"Yes?"

"Why do you think it was an Uchiha behind the attack and not someone else?"

"... Before the Yondaime teleported the Kyubi to seal it away he had just enough time to hand me a scroll. On said the scroll he asked me to take care of Naruto and gave me a general idea of what happened but there was one word that stuck out… Sharingan." Finished Sarutobi as he let the word seemly hang in the air.

"I see… may I receive my orders now Hokage-sama?"

"Yes… I want you to use your Sharingan to enter Naruto's mindscape so he can meet with the Kyubi."

"… what?" That got a reaction out of Itachi. A slack-jawed eyes wide open reaction.

"Yes… The Kyubi's previous container Kushina was someone who it respected and the feeling was mutual. It wouldn't surprise me if Kushina and Minato had asked the Kyubi to look after Naruto before their deaths. If they did it would be better for Naruto to meet the Kyubi and establish a connection now." Sarutobi explained as he took a few puffs of his pipe.

"I understand Hokage-sama… but what if Naruto doesn't want to?" Asked Itachi, having regained his composure.

"Then try to explain to him that the Kyubi is an intelligent creature and the attack six years ago wasn't of its own will. If he still doesn't want to then don't force him but make sure he knows that he will eventually have to meet it."

"I understand Hokage-sama may I be excused?"

"Yes."

-line break-

-Uchiha Clan-head residence;

When Itachi got home it was about eleven at night.

"Ah Itachi-chan." That was the voice of Uchiha Mikoto a young woman with long black hair and the Uchiha trademark coal black eyes. "Have you seen Naruto? He's way past curfew."

A voice came from behind Itachi "Heh I got him right here." Turning around Itachi was met with the smiling face of Uchiha Shisui with a mop of red hair resting on his shoulder.

"Ah Naruto-chan! Thank you Shisui-kun, he knows he shouldn't stay out this late." Mikoto said taking Naruto to his bedroom.

"Kaa-san do you know where Tou-san is? I'd like to talk to the both of you. Shisui you should stay here to." Itachi asked.

"Fugaku-kun is at a clan meeting just let me finish tucking in Naruto-chan and I'll be right out." Mikoto's voice came from the hallway.

"So what's up Itachi?" Shisui asked as Mikoto came back from the hallway.

Deciding to be blunt Itachi just let it out there. "Naruto-kun knows about the Kyubi."

While Mikoto's eyes widened with a visible expression of shock on her face Shisui showed no outward reaction.

"Shisui?" Itachi asked confused as to why Shisui hadn't reacted.

"I know already. When I came across Naruto-chan on my way back here he was still anchored to the spot depressed because he felt that no one trusted him enough to tell him. When I talked to him about it, he was really panicking. He accepted my explanation and forgave you guys for it. He's got a really big heart." Shisui said with a smile on his face.

"How did he find out?" Mikoto asked planning on talking to Naruto in the morning when he woke up.

"Heh the brat might have Kushina-obasan's red hair and bloodline, but he has Minato-ojisama's looks and smarts. He managed to figure it out all by himself. It's a good thing you gave him that book on seals baa-san because he said otherwise he might have thought he was the Kyubi himself." Shisui said with a smirk.

Mikoto smiled at that. "I was worried that might have happened. While Kushina-chan didn't have that problem she told me that she was really scared about becoming its Jinchuriki. I had hoped that if Naruto understood that the demon was sealed inside the person it would make it easier for him once he found out when he and Sasuke entered the academy."

"So how is the… unrest in the clan?" Itachi asked broaching a topic no one wanted to ask.

"It's been getting worse. Some of the clan members are even saying we should release the Kyubi on Konoha." Mikoto said with a frown.

"No! I'd personally massacre them all before I let them harm Naruto!" Itachi sneered with an unusual display of emotion. ANBU or not he was still a 12 year old kid.

"Calm down Itachi-chan. There is no way Fukgaki-kun and I will let it go that far but we may have to go to the Hokage soon." Mikoto said

"We can't let the Uchiha Clan stage a coup-de-ta." Shisui elaborated. "Konoha is already weakened from the Kyubi attack. If the Uchiha clan were to rebel it would be the killing stroke. Even if the Uchiha succeeded, Konoha wouldn't be able to defend herself from her enemies. The rest of the Major Nations would fall on us like a pack of wolves and it would start the 4th Great Shinobi World War."

Silence filled the halls for a few moments before Itachi spoke up. "We should all get some sleep. I'll make sure to talk to Naruto tomorrow in the afternoon."

And with that the three Uchiha went to bed.

-line break-

-Naruto's Mindscape;

Opening his eyes Naruto glanced around… where ever he was. It looked like he was in a giant sewer –way and there was water up to his ankles but oddly enough it didn't feel wet.

Closer inspection of the walls showed that there were really big pipes that had this odd dark-blue glow and that there where smaller pipes connecting to the big pipes with an angry red glow.

Looking around he noticed that there were only two ways to go forward or back. Since Naruto had no idea where he was he decided to just put one foot in front of another.

-line break-

-A few minutes later;

Eventually Naruto came to a giant prison with a Sealing tag in the middle.

"Hmm… this must be where the Kyubi is… that means I'm in my mindscape… why is inside my head a sewer?"

"**Maybe because you have a dirty little mind?" **boomed a voice from behind the bars.

**"**HEY I'M NOT A PERVERT." Naruto shouted indignantly at the voice.

"**Give yourself a few years. When puberty hits it hits hard." **Was the voice's sarcastic reply.

"… so you're the Kyubi… I expected you to be more… you know? Evil and all 'RELEASE ME FROM MY PRISON WHELP!'" said Naruto feeling odd for having a conversation with what he read was a sentient mass of hate.

"**And I expected you to be taller Chibi-kun."**

"OY I JUST HAVEN'T HIT MY GROWTH SPURT YET!" Naruto shouted. His height was always a sore point with him. While he wasn't exactly short per-say, due to Mikoto making sure he ate more than just ramen, he was still a few inches shorter then Sasuke so whenever someone commented on his height he always lost his temper.

**"Well… I found my new nickname for you."**

"… so how did I get in here and how do I get out?" Naruto grumbled looking around. It kind of sucked to be stuck in your own mind when your mind was a sewer.

"**You in here because I called you here and to get out you just… well I guess thinking yourself out would be the best way to describe it."**

"Oh… so why did you call me down here?" Naruto asked. Even though the Kyubi was supposed to be evil it seemed as though the giant fox… man… chakra… thing was somewhat civil.

Even though Naruto couldn't see past the darkness he had the distinct impression that the Kyubi's eye was twitching.

"**I take offence to being called a giant fox-man-chakra-thing you know."**

**"**Eh! How did-"

"**We are in your mind. How do you think?"**

**"**Oooh…"

"**… anyway the reason I called you here is I wanted to get a look at my god-son."**

**"**WHAT! You're my god-father?!" Naruto yelled with wide eyes.

"**Technically I'm your God-Mother. Your God-Father is the white-haired pervert who gave you your frog wallet for your 6****th**** birthday."**

"You mean Ero-jiji is my godfather!"

Ero-jiji was the name Naruto gave Jiraiya. While he couldn't visit, due to maintaining his spy network, Naruto was much as he would have liked he made sure to show-up on his birthdays. He and Sasuke would usually spend time with the man at hot springs even though neither of them understood why he was always looking through that hole and giggling until they took a look themselves. Since that day whatever title Naruto and Sasuke gave Jiraiya always had an ero- in front of it.

"Wait if he's my godfather how come I only see him a few times each year?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"**He is an important man to Konoha Chibi-kun. I'm pretty sure that while I was sealed in your mother I only saw him around three or four times a year and even then it was Kushina going to meet him and your father."**

**"… so any other questions? After this I would like to form a mental link. It will hurt like crazy but you won't have to come into your mind to talk to me anymore."**

**"…**Why did you attack Konoha and who is my father?"

"**Ah yes the million dollar questions… I can't tell you who your father is just yet. He had a lot of enemies and people finding out you were his son is a bad idea… but I can tell you the events of October 10****th****."**

Some shifting was heard from behind the darkness. Naruto assumed that since the Kyubi was getting comfortable it was going to be a long story so he just sat down on the floor.

"**… long story short an Uchiha attacked your mother while she was giving birth to you, took control of me, used me to attack Konoha and then I was sealed inside you."**

Naruto somehow face-fell while he was sitting but then one part stuck out to him.

"Wait you said an Uchiha was the one who attacked you and my mom?"

**"Yes but do not take one's actions as an action of the group. There is a reason why I am just now contacting you and haven't told you to be wary of your family."**

Naruto would swear he heard the Biju mutter something about 'insane tanuki's' but he couldn't be sure.

"Wait what happened to my dad?"

"**I can't tell you exactly how but he loved you and died to protect you." **It was technically true. Minato did love Naruto and he died to give Naruto the power to protect himself in the future.

Even though Naruto didn't know who his father was it still made him feel warm inside to know that his father loved him. "Ok… so is there anything else?"

"**No I'll talk to you tomorrow Chibi-kun. Now get ready for me to forge the link."**

Mumbling "not a chibi." Naruto closed his eyes as a burning sensation appeared in the back of his head and intensified until he lost conscious.

-line break-

-The Next Morning;

Yawning as he opened his eyes, Naruto sat up and stretched. Looking around he noticed that he was back in his room in the Uchiha Clan-head house.

'_Shisui-niisan must have brought me back last night.'_ Naruto mused as he put on a bathrobe.

'_What an odd dream I had last night… I guess finding out I was the Kyubi's Jinchuriki affected me more than I thought.'_

**"That was no dream Chibi-kun."**

'_So I'm guessing the link is connected?_' Naruto said as he stepped into the bathroom and began brushing his teeth.

"**Yep. You now have a voice in your head. Congratulations your officially crazy."**

**'**_… meh'_

**"Really? Just a meh?"**

_'Yeh I mean it's only one voice and it's pretty cool to be able to talk to someone who is supposed to be thousands of years old you know.' _Naruto replied to the Kyubi as he turned on the shower.

"**I… suppose that's true… '****_Minato, Kushina, forgive me. You son has become weird.' …_****but most people would be freaked out by having a voice in their head."**

'_It's not really that bad. It sort of reminds me that you'll always be there for me in a way and I know your real so it's not like I have an imaginary friend or something.'_

**"Mmm yes I suppose the fact that I am real would made you feel less insane."**

Turning off the shower Naruto dried himself off, got dressed and headed to the dining room for breakfast.

-line break-

-Dining room;

Mikoto was lost in her thoughts as she prepared breakfast for her family. When Fugaku got home last night he told her that the unrest was getting really bad and they would have a rebellion on their hands in a year, maybe even less. The elder council members were already trying to pressure Fugaku to let them use Naruto as a bargaining chip, something he absolutely refused to do.

Sighing she let her thoughts drift to what would happen if the council refused to back down and the Hokage caught wind of what they were trying to do. While Hiruzen might try to find a peaceful solution at first he was the Hokage and had to do what was necessary for the village. The Uchiha clan would have to be wiped out completely. There could be no witnesses, no way to link it back to the village, it would have to be a complete slaughter. Otherwise the other clans would fear being wiped out and rebel.

When Fugaku got back last night and she told him Naruto knew of the Kyubi the look her husband had on his face was absolutely murderous. When he demanded she tell him who told Naruto she simply smiled, shook her head and said that "Naruto-chan is truly his father's son.". Understanding that Naruto found out on his own, Fugaku couldn't help but let a prideful smile show on his face. While Naruto might not have been Fugaku's son biologically he loved him just ask much as he loved Sasuke and Itachi. A huge contrast to the man three years ago, who only focused on grooming Itachi to be the perfect clan head and ignored Sasuke.

Over the last three years Naruto had truly changed their family for the better bringing them all closer together.

A glance over at Fugaku, who was sitting at the dining table waiting for Naruto to finish showering, as Sasuke was still asleep, showed that Fugaku's face showed no nervousness. Even though Shisui had told her that Naruto had understood why they kept the knowledge of the Kyubi from him, Mikoto still felt that she should apologize.

Even though Fugaku had only responded with the trademark Uchiha 'Hn' she knew he felt the same on the inside.

As Naruto came into the dining room, spikey red hair bouncing Mikoto finished setting the table and ushered him over. Sasuke was still sleeping and Itachi was out buying Pocky so now was the perfect time for their talk.

"Hey Naruto-chan can we talk about… you know it?"

"You mean the Kyubi?" Said Naruto with all the subtly of a sledgehammer.

"Eh… Well yes your father and I just want to say we are sorry and we hope you understand why we kept it from you." Mikoto said gesturing at Fugaku who just grunted even though he did look sorry.

"It's ok Kaa-san Tou-san I understand! Shisui-niisan explained it to me" Naruto said with a big smile before he went back to eating.

Mikoto smiled and shared a look with Fugaku. That was just like Naruto. He never let anything get him down and always bounced back after he got an explanation.

A little while later Sasuke came in with his duck-ass hairdo messy followed by Itachi with a big bag of Pocky and the rest of breakfast was in comfortable silence.

-line break-

-Naruto and Sasuke's training grounds;

The sounds of two small children fighting echoed throughout the training grounds.

Even though they would enter the academy next year Naruto and Sasuke still liked to train and fight with each other.

Of course they made sure not to hurt each other too badly.

Most of the time.

Jumping over a sweep kick Sasuke jumped into a snap kick that hit Naruto in the jaw. Using the momentum from that Naruto spun and landed a kick into Sasuke's gut and knocked him back into a tree.

" Hah! It's my win this time Sasuke." Naruto said while he nursed his jaw.

"Hn. That's only because you've been training in your clan's Taijutsu longer then I have."

The Uzumaki Taijutsu style, the Swirling Fists, was a style that made use of grappling, so that the Uzumaki clan members using it could apply seals, and spinning attacks that use the momentum of your opponent against them.

"You know Tou-chan and Onii-chan wouldn't teach the Interceptor Fist until I unlocked my Sharingan. If I had my Sharingan I would have won." Sasuke mumbled wiping some spit from his chit. Naruto hit really hard.

"No I would have still won." Naruto stated in a matter-of-fact tone." The only reason I don't use my bloodline is because you don't have yours yet and since I've had more experience with my bloodline I would win." Naruto said sticking his tongue out at Sasuke.

Growling Sasuke stood up and tackled Naruto to the ground where they began their fight again.

-line break-

Itachi let a smile cross his face as he watched his two younger brothers spar. Even though Naruto liked to say he always won, Sasuke actually won about half the time. Naruto just liked to gloat.

Naruto had really taken the news of the Kyubi in stride after Shisui had sat him down and explained everything to him, though Itachi did wonder how Naruto would react to meeting the Kyubi.

Chuckling as he saw Naruto tie Sasuke against a tree with his chakra chains, Itachi decided he would do anything to protect those innocents.

After-all these peaceful days were numbered.

-line break-

After Sasuke had gotten Naruto to unchain him from the tree and the two had decided to take a break, we found our future protagonists lounging about eating the lunch Mikoto made for them.

"Hey Sasuke…"

"Hn?"

"I'm the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi." Naruto said. Subtly was never his strong suit.

"Cool. Can I have your tomatoes?" Sasuke said without batting an eyelash.

"Uhh… sure…" Naruto said in a daze as he handed Sasuke his portion of the tomatoes Mikoto prepared for them.

"Wait! I tell you I have the monster that almost destroyed Konoha six years ago sealed in my gut and all you have to say is _cool?!_" Naruto shouted in disbelief.

"**Now you know how I felt by your lack of reaction to me."**

_'Quiet fuzzball! I'm talking to my brother here!'_

"Yeah. What do you expect me to say?" Sasuke said with a perfectly straight face.

"I don't know! Be more surprised or something!" Naruto said clutching his head.

"… I stopped being surprised by you when you somehow laced Itachi's Pocky with laxatives and got away with it." Deadpanned Saskue.

"But sti- wait how did you know it was me."

"Who else has the balls to touch Itachi's Pocky? When Shisui tried that one time Itachi almost castrated him." Sasuke said with a shiver.

Nobody knew why but Itachi loved Pocky more than Naruto loved Ramen. He went through six boxes daily and protected it with the fervor of a dying man. It was once said that when Itachi was still a Genin he had wiped out an entire bandit camp just because they made him spill his Pocky onto the ground.

Naruto sat there for a few moments in silence, only broken by the sound of Sasuke eating his bento.

"You should eat your bento before it spoils." Sasuke said as he finished his and began stretching.

Naruto began mechanically eating his bento. "…why aren't you surprised. Why don't you care?"

Slowly Sasuke turned his eyes until they met his adopted little brother's. "Because it doesn't matter."

"What?"

"So what if you hold the Kyubi? That doesn't change the fact that for the last three years you lived with me. It doesn't change the fact that we trained together on a daily basis. It doesn't change the fact that we grew up together. It doesn't change the fact that me Onii-chan, Tou-san, Kaa-san and Shisui-niichan all care about you and consider you part of our family. Do you want to know what it changes? Nothing. It changes nothing Naruto." Sasuke said with conviction in his voice as he finished his stretching and began some chakra control exercises.

"If anything I'm only sad that you didn't feel you could tell me this earlier."

"Heh to be honest I only found out yesterday myself." Naruto said with a smile in contrast to the tears streaming down his face.

"You always were a little dense." Sasuke said with a smirk.

There were no words exchanged until they had arrived home later that day.

-line break-

-Later that day, Uchiha Clan-head house dinnertime;

"So how was everyone's day?"

"Hn."

"Hn."

"Hn."

"It was fun! Me and Sasuke went out training again."

"Oh did you two like the bento's I made for you?"

"Hn."

"Yeah Kaa-san they were great!"

Another riveting conversation at the Uchiha dinner table.

As they were finishing their meal Itachi told Naruto that he wanted to talk to him in his room.

-line break-

-Itachi's room;

"Naruto the Sandaime wants me to help you contact the Kyubi."

"It's ok. I already talked to it last night!"

"I understand if you don- wait what?"

"Yeah the night after I figured out I was the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi, it pulled me into my mindscape so it could meet me face to face and form a mental link."

"… I see… do you mind if I go into your mindscape just to inspect the seal?"

"Sure, but I'm going to go ahead and warn you. It's a sewer for some reason."

"… … … Naruto if Shisui ever asks you to steal some girl's underwear again say no ok?"

**AN: AND DONE. Whew this chapter sure was huge compared to the last two. Anyway on Friday, around the middle of the day I plan to take the poll down so vote while you can! (really? only three people voted so far (TT_TT). Anyway whatever wins the poll is actually going to affect the way I do the next chapter and the way I portray Naruto. Any Naruto with Rinnegan is going to have a bit of Pein's personality where he thinks the reason people fight is because they don't understand what it means to truly be hurt and will try to bring about world peace (happy/cross over end). Whereas Naruto with only Sharingan or no Dojutsu Naruto is going be a Naruto that is a little bit like Kiritsugu from the Fate franchise. He will do some bad things for the greater good (saving the most lives) but he draws the line at harming those he cares about (good/true end). Naruto with Rinnegan and Sharingan will be a cross of the two. His final goal will be world peace, and will be willing to do anything to anyone but draws the line at those he cares about(sad/crossover end). Naruto won't be like this immediately, rather is personality will change over the course of the story ****Also I will be posting another poll after the one i have up right now closes. Basically if Sharingan+Rinnegan Naruto wins then it will be whether Naruto has a Obito thing going where its Sharingan in one eye and Rinnegan in the other, or like Madara where he has it in both eyes but he can switch them on the fly. Also it will apply to only-Sharingan Naruto where he has it only in one eye or both eyes. Next chapter is Uchiha Massacre and then canon. Anyway heres an omake that I planned to put in the story but it seemed a bit too goofy so I edited it out and added an ending. No it is not canon for my story. Review plz!**

**Edit1 Ok I really need you guys to vote on the poll cause I have bunch of scenarios in my head about how the Uchiha massacre could go down. I'll post a snippets from the choice that have the most votes when I wake up on Thursday so you guys have a decent idea of where the fic is going. You all will still have until Friday for me to lock in my choice though. I elaborated more on what the plot would bring.**

**Edit2 changed only Rinnegan to happy/crossover end. Cause we don't need two sad/crossover ends**

**Edit3 sorry i edit so much guys. This is my first story. I decided I won't put up the second poll and that I'm just going to do Madara style. Also I will be giving Naruto the potential to use ALL of the Mangekyou techinques but there will be drawbacks. As for why I'm doing this is because Naruto won''t be shadow-clone spam training so he won't just master everything super quick. No 72 hour Tsukuyomi's no instant Amateratsu's none of that shit. I have an explanation for the shadow clone thing (I won't tell you until I post it in the chapter) and as for the Mangekyou Techinques the same but its pretty lengthy and I can't explain it in a chapter without making it seem awkward so I'll put it in the next post which will be the top-two poll choice's snippets **

Omake: The real reason Itachi killed Shisui

-Itachi's room after dinner;

Itachi's room was as expressionless as he was. There were only two pictures on his bedside. His walls were a uniform white and everything else was as bland as could be. Except for the Pocky Bank.

Withdrawing some strawberry Pocky from the Pocky Bank Itachi began munching on the Pocky. Naruto knew whatever it was Itachi was nervous to be talking about it. Itachi only ate strawberry Pocky when he was nervous.

After a few minutes of awkward silence Naruto decided to fish around to see what had Itachi so nervous.

"I forgive you for not telling me about the Kyubi?"

"Hn."

Nope. Wasn't that. It was something else.

"**Maybe he wants to give you the talk about the birds and the bees?"**

_'What are the birds and the bees?'_

"**Heh why don't you ask Itachi?"**

"Itachi-niisan… what are the birds and the bees?"

"… who told you about that?" asked Itachi with an intense gaze.

"Um… Er… Shisui-niisan told me to ask you about it!" Naruto said feeling no shame from painting a target on the elder Uchiha's back.

Eyes narrowing Itachi replied "I… see."

-line break-

Suddenly Uchiha Shisui felt a cold hand grip his spine.

"Whoa! What was that?" Shisui said looking around. Not sensing anything weird he kept walking.

'_That was odd… you know I haven't felt that since Sasuke accidently found my H-collection, asked Itachi about it and Itachi had to give him the talk afterwards...'_

_-_line break-

-Itachi's room after an explanation to what the birds and the bees were;

Naruto sat there with an extremely deep flush on his face. Itachi was also sitting there, having finished his Pocky during his explanation, with his usual stoic expression but you could see a slight twitch in his left eye.

"S-so this." Naruto said pointing to his privates.

"Hn."

Blush going down to his neck Naruto continued. "G-goes into a girls-"

"Hn."

"a-and when a guy-" Naruto said, the blush going down to his arms and making him look like a nice tomato.

"Hn."

"i-i-inside a girl's-"

"Hn."

"a-and t-t-that's where ba-b-babies come from?"

"Hn."

"What if a girl and a girl-"

Three days later Shisui's body was found drowned in the Naka River.


	4. Chapter 3: Red Dawn

Red Dawn

Don't own Naruto or any references made. AN at bottem

At first glance everything seemed alright with Konoha.

But Konoha wasn't alright.

There was civil unrest among the Uchiha Clan who, were one of the most powerful clans in Konoha. Lately they had been getting more and more alienated, due to rumors that the Kyubi attack seven years ago was orchestrated by an Uchiha, and there were talks of a coup-de-ta. That was something that could not happen. A coup-de-ta by the Uchiha's would make Konoha too vulnerable to enemy attacks.

-line break-

-The Uchiha Clanhead house;

"This is getting ridiculous. We can't even let Naruto-chan outside anymore on the off-chance that the other clan members might try to kidnap him." Mikoto said with a frown.

"We really will have to go to Sandaime-sama soon." Fugaku said with a frown. "The clan elders are too caught-up in their own pride is bigotry to realize that the reason the Uchiha have been getting more and more alienated is because of our pride not allowing us to admit that no one since Uchiha Madara has been able to control the Kyubi."

"The clan has been getting more and more restless… soon they might come at Mikoto and me just to remove any opposition to the coup." Fugaku finished before he turned to Itachi who had been oddly silent.

"Itachi… I know you've been acting as a double agent for the Sandaime. I honestly couldn't care less. If anything I'm proud of you that you're so willing to protect your home… and if we can't find a solution in time promise me that you will take care of Naruto and Sasuke." Fugaku said with a knowing but kind look in his eyes.

Itachi was stunned silent. The elders were trying to get him to murder is whole clan except for his little brothers. Fugaku was not a dumb man. He had probably figured out that if they were to stop the Uchiha clan before the coup everyone would have to die, guilty and innocent alike. Otherwise the other clans would become afraid that the same thing could happen to them and rebel. He also knew that as ANBU Captain Itachi reported to the Hokage first and furthermost. Fugaku had basically just told his son. "If you have to kill us I understand. Just make sure to take care of your siblings."

"I… I understand Tou-san." Itachi said as he shakily walked to his room.

He managed to close the door before the tears came.

-line break-

-Naruto's room;

Naruto couldn't let out a sigh as he swung a Chakra-Construct Katana around, going through some basic sword Kata's. The Uchiha's had been getting more and more restless. There were even rumors of a coup floating around. About two weeks ago Mikoto had asked Naruto to try to stay in the house as much as he could. He understood why. With the Uchiha talking about rebelling, the Kyubi would be a powerful weapon to have and he wouldn't put it above the usually proud and arrogant Uchiha's to try to kidnap him.

"**Yes you finally understand why I don't like humans in general very much."**

'_Eh? You like my family and I don't you?' _Naruto replied as he used his chakra to make a giant blunted shuriken and went though some throwing motions.

"**I will admit you're family doesn't fit the mold that most humans come from, both your adopted and biological. However they are more the exceptions that prove the rule rather than the rule."**

'_Eh? I don't get it? How can an exception prove a rule?_' Naruto said confused. The Kyubi always used these weird sayings that made no sense.

"**It is a way of saying that one exception doesn't make a generally broad rule false. The fact that your family is nice compared to the rest of the clan just says that the rest of the clan is considered mean. In the same way because your family is made of good people just means compared to your family the rest of humanity seems bad." **The Kyubi explained. The kid was smart but he was still eight years old.

'_Oh… is humanity really that bad?'_

"**Naruto have I ever told you of the origins of the Tailed Beasts and the True meaning behind the word Jinchuriki?"**

'_No why?"_

"**Well it all-wait. Naruto focus your Mind's eye."**

Sensing the urgency in the Kyubi's voice Naruto focused his Mind's Eye of the Kagura. When he did he immediately focused on six signatures, one of whom was Shisui. It seemed like he was fighting some people. And he was losing. Jumping to his feet Naruto dispelled his giant shuriken and ran to the spot where he last felt Shisui…

-line break-

-in the forest;

Shisui grunted as he deflected another kunai on his blade, reflecting on how he got into this situation.

When talks of a coup got really bad he went to his commander, Danzo. Danzo's reaction was of course to massacre the clan, Shisui expected that. What Shisui didn't expect was for Danzo to try to steal his eyes. He had barely made it out of that hornet's nest and now he still had five wasps to deal with.

Dodging a thrust by one of said wasps Shisui ducked underneath and to the side, opening the ROOT-nin's stomach with his tanto.

Grabbing the dying nin's body he spun and used it as a shield to block a barrage of shuriken to his left. Using the body as a cover Shisui Shunshin'd (**Body flicker) **behind another ROOT operative and severed his head from his neck.

Ducking under a swing meant to behead him Shisui lashed out with a snap-kick knocking the blank-masked ROOT back and threw his tanto, nailing the ROOT in the forehead.

Shisui took two kunai from his holster as the second-to-last ROOT fell upon him tip-less tanto swinging.

Ducking underneath a slash Shisui lashed out with his kunai only for the ROOT to jump back. Senses screaming at Shisui turned around but wasn't fast enough to block the punch that knocked him to the ground.

'_Ugh…' _Dazed Shisui could only faintly hear one of the men telling the other to take his eyes.

One of the ROOT walked over to him before he ducked as a giant blue thin-bladed shuriken (think the kind Obito use) passed over him.

Seeing a chance as the other ROOT turned to look for their mysterious attacker Shisui, lashed out with a kunai and cut the closest ROOT's throat. He then Shunshin'd behind him and jackhammered him into the ground. Shisui then knelt down and put his knee on the ROOT's neck and watched impassively as he choked to death.

Looking up Shisui let his face soften as he saw Naruto run over with red pupils. '_Probably channeled some of the Kyubi's Chakra so he could have enough strength to throw that big shuriken.' _Shisui mused.

Shisui let out an 'Oof' as Naruto body tacked him "Shisui-niisan! Are you alright! I was training and I sensed that you were fighting and that you weren't doing good so I came to help and-"

Chuckling Shisui patted Naruto's head to calm him down. "Yeah yeah calm down. I'm alright. Come on let's get you home. You know that you're not supposed to be out of the house."

-line break-

-Uchiha Clan-head house;

On the way back Naruto fell asleep due to this being the first time he ever used the Kyubi's Chakra. After putting Naruto in his bed Shisui went to the living room where he knew that Mikoto, Fugaku and Itachi were waiting.

"So anything?" Fugaku asked

"No he is still giving us the same deal. Everyone except Sasuke-chan, Naruto-chan and the person who does the deed dies. Hell the bastard even tried to take my eyes. Probably would have succeeded to if Naruto hadn't come at the last second. So we are right back at square one" Shisui said with a frown as he ran his hand through his hair.

"At this rate it looks like we will have to take Danzo's option. I overheard some other clan members talking about trying to kidnap Naruto-kun so they could get control over the Kyubi. I have a crow following him but we are running out of time."

"I know Itachi I know…"

As the four of them headed to the clan meeting, so deep in their thoughts they didn't notice a shadow sneak into the house as they left.

-line break-

Naruto wasn't sure what was happening. One moment he was sleeping in his room and then the next he was bound and blindfolded.

"**Naruto don't move. Don't let them know that you're awake."**

Calming himself down Naruto focused his thoughts inward again.

'_Ok. Do you know what's going on?_

"**Naruto the people who kidnapped you want to take control of me and destroy Konoha."**

'_What?! How do you know?'_

"**I can sense the negative emotions of those around us… what do you want to do?"**

'_I don't know! What can we do? If these guys get you then Konoha would be destroyed! No one else in Konoha has chakra strong enough for you to be sealed again. What do we do?'_

"**How far are you willing to go?"**

'_What?'_

"**How are far are you willing to go to protect your family? You might not be a Shinobi yet but Shinobi stands for Those that Endure. You want to be a Shinobi? Then tell me. How much would you endure to protect your family?**

Closing his eyes Naruto thought about his family. These past four years had been the happiest of his life. Where he was once in hell his new family rescued him. They brought him in, clothed him, fed him, loved him. If these people did what they had planned then Tou-san, Kaa-san, Sasuke-nii-teme, Shisui-niisan and Itachi-niisan who all refused to take part in the Cuep-de-ta would definitely be killed. Remembering the man that he killed to protect Shisui-niisan his conviction hardened. To protect those that he held precious… to protect those peaceful days… he would do anything.

'_I'll endure anything. What can you do?'_

"**There is not much I can do from within the seal… but your body is not completely accustomed to my Chakra just yet. In-order to get into your mindscape they would have to use their Sharingan (Copy Wheel Eye)…if I focus enough of my chakra in your eyes I could probably get your eyeballs to melt. They then may try to break the seal by killing you but if so I can just die with you and it would take me some years to reform."**

'_Then do it.'_

"… **Steel yourself Naruto. It will hurt."**

Throughout the whole process Naruto didn't even cry out once.

-line break-

Shisui and Itachi were leaving the clan meeting when they heard a crow caw from the skies. Looking at each other they Shunshin'd in the direction the caw came from.

-line break-

Uchiha Setsuna was your typical power-hungry Uchiha. Even though he didn't unlock his Sharingan until he was almost 20 he still had achieved the three tomoe state. Over the past few years as Konoha subtly oppressed the Uchiha he was in the same opinion as almost all the clan. That they should rebel and take what was rightfully theirs in Konoha. To that end he recommended kidnapping the Kyubi Jinchuriki and unleashing the Kyubi on Konoha. When he and 15 other Uchiha had snuck into the Clan-Head's house and grabbed the brat everything had seemed like it was going according to plan. But once they got to their hideout everything went downhill. When they had taken off the Jinchuriki's blindfold they had found out the brat had somehow got his own eye's to melt. Then when they were planning on killing him to break the seal everything went to hell. A vengeful Itachi and Shisui had then fallen upon them like a two starving wolves on a piece of meat. They were all ordinary clan ninja. A mostly Chunin and a few Genin. They stood no chance against the enraged ANBU captain and his best friend. Everyone was killed in a matter of seconds, Setsuna himself falling to a kunai in the back of the head.

-line break-

Naruto couldn't see what was going on but when they had removed his blindfold he had heard several cries of rage. When he had heard someone recommend that they kill him he heard the swish of a sword, and a thump from a body hitting the floor. Ten seconds. Naruto couldn't see it but that was all the time the enraged ANBU captain and his best friend needed to slaughter the entire room.

"He-hello? W-who's there?" Naruto said understandably scared because he couldn't see anything.

"SHIT! Naruto what did they do to you!" a voice that Naruto identified as Shisui's said.

"I'll stay here with Naruto. Shisui go to Danzo. I didn't want to do it but this has gone too far. I won't let my clan harm my family or his village anymore." A stoic voice said even though you could hear the signs of barely restrained rage within it.

"Hold on Itachi… if we do that than all the Uchiha will probably have to die… including your parents."

"WHAT!" Naruto cried out "NO Itachi-niisan you can't there has to be another way!"

"I'm afraid not Naruto. If the Uchiha clan is put down before the initial strike is made then it will scare the other clan heads into rebelling which will lead to a civil war. They have to be completely wiped out and someone would need to take the blame so that they couldn't trace back the order to Konoha. Shisui I'll give Naruto my eyes and then yo-"

"No Itachi… I already unlocked the Mangekyou (**Kaleidoscope**). The only way to obtain it isn't killing your best friend. I'll give Naruto-chan my eyes. Meanwhile you create a shadow-clone and have it bring Sasuke-chan here so we can tell him what's going on. We promised we wouldn't hide anything from them after the Kyubi. Then afterwards I will use my Kotoamatsukami (Distinguished Heavenly Gods) to seal his memory until he unlocks his Mangekyou and I'll also tell him how to unlock it without killing the person closest to you. Kyubi if you can hear me I would ask you to seal Naruto's memory. Give me some sign if you understand and can do it." Shisui said in an uncharacteristically calm voice.

"What n**o you can't do that Shisui-niisan! NO! PLEASE! WH-"**was all Naruto was able to get out before he felt a small pinch on the back of his neck.

As Naruto lost consciousness he was able to still hear Itachi and Shisui's last words. "When you are ready to start training with the Mangekyou go to the Naka Shrine. In the main hall beneath the seventh tatami mat on the far right, is the secret meeting place of the Uchiha. In there is a tablet containing the clan's secrets and can only be deciphered with the Sharingan. Beware one who calls himself Madara as I believe it is him who attacked your parents on the night you were born. Good bye Naruto-kun, remember no matter what... I will always love you."

"We can do it Naruto-chan… we can do it because we all care for you. We might not be able to protect your innocents anymore but we can at least make sure you and Sasuke-chan make it through this. Shinobi are people who are willing to endure anything, Naruto-chan. Endure for the greater good… endure for peace… endure for those who we care about. Because we all love you and care about you… that is why Itachi can endure exile, why Fugaku-ojisan, Mikoto-baachan and I can endure even death… because we love you."

-line break-

"So you finally decided to do what you had to do to protect the leaf." Said Danzo

"Yes… but I come with a warning..." Itachi said with a Sharingan-enhanced glare.

"Oh I would believe you're not in much of a position to threaten me." Itachi lowered his head as his bangs covered his eyes.

"If you touch Sasuke or Naruto…" Itachi raised his head to reveal his Mangekyou, a 3 bladed star, blazing with power.

"I will leak information from Konoha to other villages and will personally make sure Konoha _**BURNS **__by my own hands_."

-line break-

Naruto was later delivered to the hospital but no one claimed to be able to remember who it was. He then spent the next month in a coma. During that month the Night that would be known as the infamous Uchiha-Massacre would occur. After Naruto recovered and was discharged from the hospital he immediately went to the top of the Yondaime's head on the Hokage monument. His red hair had grown while he was unconscious, though it was still super spikey, and many people would even say it had darkened to an almost blood red... As he thought about the massacre he felt odd… almost as though he had already known about it before he was even told. When he had heard everyone had died by Itachi's hand he felt as though he had already known that but had been reminded… distracted by his thoughts Naruto didn't notice his eyes change from blood red with three tomoes, to a four point star, marred by four red lines… and finally change to a miniature pupil with six black concentric circles and an unearthly ice-blue glow…

-line break-

Uchiha Sasuke was confused. Confused to why he had a voice in his head telling him to keep his Sharingan active for three days straight. Confused as to why everyone in his clan was killed. Confused as to why Itachi had been the one who had done it… confused as to why Itachi had shed a single tear as he left the village he once loved after Sasuke had attacked him with his newly active Sharingan… and confused as to the feeling of understanding he felt when he thought about Itachi killing his clan…

Right now he was looking for his younger brother Naruto. He had been told that Naruto left the hospital almost an hour ago.

Sasuke wanted to break down to yell and scream at the unfair world. But he couldn't. Not while Naruto still needed him.

Sighing Sasuke noted that one of the things Naruto would do when he was depressed back when he was first adopted was go to the top of the Hokage Monument and sit on the Yondaime's head.

Activating his Sharingan Sasuke was just able to make out a blob of red hair on top of one of the spikes on the Yondaime's hair.

-line break-

"The demon has finally shown its true colors!"

"We have to kill it before it gets the other clans!"

"The demon cannot be allowed another family to ruin!"

"We should take those stolen Sharingan right out of his eyes!"

The Professor Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed his head as he listened to the Civilian Councils bickering. With the Uchiha incident they thought they finally had a reason to execute Naruto even though Sarutobi had repeatedly told them that it was Itachi who slaughtered his clan. Thinking that this meeting would take hours Sarutobi took out his pipe…

"ENOUGH."

… and promptly dropped it when someone from the Civilian Council silenced the rest of them.

Ichiraku Teuchi was the owner of an extremely popular Ramen stand in Konoha. Said stand was extremely popular due to how the Yondaime Hokage and his lover used to go there before their untimely deaths. With the death of the Yondaime Hokage, Ramen Ichiraku received an abnormally large amount of customers each year, as if to honor the dead Kage. Because of this Teuchi was one of the richest merchants in the village and had eventually earned a seat on the Civilian Council.

"Years ago when our Yondaime died to defeat the Kyubi many of us felt a great void in our heart's as he was loved by all of us. When we had heard that the Kyubi had been sealed into an infant many of us used him as our scapegoat. All the rage we felt for the Kyubi, all the sadness we felt from the loss of so many loved ones we all pinned on the shoulders of this poor child. Just so we could feel some measure of payback towards the beast that devastated our homes. Mistreated for three years in the orphanage this poor boy eventually found happiness in family. Even as he was accepted by them, all of us, we still held onto our grudge, so steadfast, so stubbornly and alienated his family from the village. Now that family is gone. Slaughtered by one of the people said boy loved and trusted more than anything in the world. However instead of trying to comfort him we are once again trying to place the blame of a tragedy on this poor boy's shoulders once again. Have we truly fallen so low?"

Getting up, Teuchi walked to the door.

"I for one have never been more ashamed to call myself a citizen of Konoha."

The sound of the door slamming shut echoed throughout the Council Chambers.

-line break-

Naruto wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there just staring blankly at the village. At some point his eyes had reverted back to their Sharingan form. He noted that it was pretty late in the afternoon as he heard some steps coming from behind him. Sasuke had just sat down next to him and the two stared at the village in silence.

"Kaa-san told me about you getting Shisui's Sharingan." Sasuke said. When Naruto didn't respond Sasuke continued.

"You know Kaa-san and Tou-san edited their wills the night before the massacre."

Naruto had no response other than to move his eyes to look at Sasuke. Then "Do you think they knew it was going to happen?" Sasuke just sighed and shook his head.

"I couldn't say. The only person who could answer that question is Itachi."

"…What do we do?"

Standing up Sasuke put his hands on his hips. "Right now? We need to get some food in our stomachs and go to sleep."

"I mean what do we do about Itachi?"

"We get strong enough to take him down and get our answers. I think Itachi didn't do this of his own will and someone forced him to do it." Sasuke said with narrowed eyes.

A few moments past in silence…

"… then I think we should hide our strength once we get into the academy." Naruto said, a spark once again coming into his eyes.

"Why?" Sasuke said confused.

Naruto got up the gears in his mind accelerating. "Think about it. Why are we the only ones left? Because Itachi doesn't think we are a threat. We should keep it that way. Stay in the academy for the four years."

Naruto started pacing, a hand on his chin. "On the other hand we have to consider the possibility that it's our lives that Itachi was protecting."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke said with a raised eyebrow. Naruto might be dense but there was almost nothing that you could hide from him when he really wanted to know.

"It's simple. Someone blackmailed Itachi into killing the clan with our lives. Someone with more power than Itachi, or someone high enough in the village structure to order our deaths, blackmailed Itachi into killing his clan and had he not we would have died. Granted it may just be a theory but we should hide our strengths just to be on the safe side." Naruto elaborated his Sharingan seeming almost aflame with emotion.

"I think it may be that. Before he left Itachi was crying… how much do you think we should hide?" Sasuke asked.

"**One of you should be dead-last and the other should be the rookie of the year. Those two are always paired together with the highest scoring Kunoichi." **The Kyubi helpfully interjected.

'_Thanks Kyu-chan.'_

"**Kyu-chan?"**

"One of us needs to be the Dead-Last, and the other, Rookie of the Year, those two are always placed together on a team."

"So who's going to be Dead-Last?" Sasuke said with a raised eyebrow. He had gotten used to Naruto spacing out and talking to the Kyubi over the years.

"… I think I should be the one to do it. The Council already doesn't like me because of the Kyubi. This is just going to make my reputation even worse in their eyes. If the 'demon' seems to be getting too strong then they might decide to do something about it. I'll pretend to be the dobe. Let them have a false sense of security." Naruto said standing beside Sasuke.

"Hn. Then maybe hide that we don't hate Itachi too. That seemed like one of the blackmailers objectives."

Naruto just nodded, eyes forward.

Sasuke looked over the horizon were a Red Dawn was beginning to form and turned on his Sharingan almost as if to challenge the sky. "We will find the truth. We already know the flaws in this Genjutsu. It's just a matter of getting strong enough to break out of it."

"We will bring Itachi back and if we can't we will go to him. He's our family and I won't let him go when there's even a chance he may come back to us." Naruto said Sharingan spinning with conviction.

Sasuke nodded remembering the kind older brother who would do anything for his sake.

As the two boys stared forward, Sharingans blazing, they would always look back and remember that day as the day their Helicon days were over. That they decided there was nothing more important than family.

Not even the village.

**AN: Ok done. Well when I said it would be a smaller chapter… I meant compared to the one before it. I made a few edits to the snippet after reading it over, props to Erasels (you'll see in the next chapter btw) for pointing out the weirdness in Danzo-Itachi interaction. With this we are done with the Prologue: the helcyon days (These last few chapters were technically the Prologue. I just didn't want to mash them all into one super huge chapter). Next chapter we get into canon. I'll be showing Naruto and Sasuke's time in the academy in omakes though. Also I took the poll down cause Rinnegan+Sharingan Naruto was winning overwhelmingly. I won't go Gen Urobachi on you all but the ending will be sad. Also heavens feel is being animated by UFOtable. My life is now complete.**

**Edit1: Props to Out of Pseudonyms and Chack94 for pointing some stuff out for me in the chapter which i edited and about the stories title not being very good. I will admit that myself cause I'm couldn't really come up with a title that wasn't in some way a spoiler. If anyone has a better title pm me by the beginning of August and if i like it i'll change it and give you credit**


	5. Chapter 4: Team Seven

The Scarecrow.

I don't own Naruto or any references made in this fanfic AN at bottem

Grumbling as the first rays of sunlight hit his face a twelve year old Naruto U. Uchiha opened his eyes to reveal a three tomoe Sharingan **(Copy Wheel Eye).** Getting up he went to the bathroom and started the shower. As he waited for the water to heat up, he looked at himself in the mirror. Closing his eyes and stopping the flow of chakra he had been feeding them, a force of habit he picked up over the last five years, he opened them to reveal an ice-blue colored Rinnegan (**Samara Eye)** that glowed with untapped power. Five years ago after he had awakened from his coma with his brother's, Uchiha Shisui's eyes he had fallen into depression, only being able to focus on how his family was gone. At some point while he was wallowing in his angst his brother's eyes had evolved into the Rinnegan. After being told how rare and valuable this eyes truly were by the Kyubi, he had tried many ways to hide them, eventually just settling for having his Sharingan on at all times by feeding it chakra continually. For the first year he basically had permanent chakra exhaustion, only being able to survive by falling unconscious as the Kyubi pumped some of its chakra into his veins. Because of his he had chakra reserves that would have made even Kisame, The Tailless Beast himself, drool in jealousy. Conversely he had about as much Chakra control as an old person did of their bowels.

… At the same time he had no idea how to use his Rinnegan. He really had no use for activating it other than the strength, speed and chakra boosts it gave him and unless it was a life or death situation it wasn't worth revealing he had it in the first place. From what the Kyubi had told him the Sage of Six Paths also had the Rinnegan but since the Kyubi, along with the other Tailed Beasts, only came into life as the Sage himself was dieing, it had no idea what the Rinnegan's powers could be.

Getting into the shower he fed more power into his eyes as they changed from the Sharingan to his brother's Mangekyou (**Kaleidoscope). **Naruto and Sasuke had decided not to visit the Naka Shrine until Sasuke had unlocked his Mangekyou. Even though he himself had only used it one or two times Naruto felt the pride of having had such an amazing older brother well-up again when he found out how Shisui unlocked Kotoamatsukami **(Distinguished Heavenly Gods). **Kotoamatsukami was a technique that allowed its user to go into the targets mind and manipulate them by giving them false experiences. It was the ultimate hypnotic-Genjutsu, having been unlocked when Shisui had obtained a near complete understanding of how the human mind worked. When Naruto used it he would just be bumbling through the instructions Shisui had left for him in the eye and would probably never be able to use it to the absolute degree his brother had.

Turning off the shower and drying himself off as he left the Chakra drain from his Mangekyou until it reverted back to the normal Sharingan, Naruto went to his dresser and put on his orange jumpsuit. While orange was an awesome color the way the jumpsuit Naruto was wearing had it made it look stupid and he couldn't wait for tomorrow when he would be assigned a team and he could burn the damned thing.

The over the last five years Naruto and Sasuke had perfected their masks that they wore in public. Sasuke was the cold, broody avenger with a stick up his ass who was the Rookie of the Year and Naruto was the village idiot who was only able to get through the academy as the Dead-Last because of his Sharingan. Other than a select few individuals that they both trusted, together the two had successfully pulled the wool over the eyes of the whole village.

As he went into the kitchen and started breakfast Naruto saw a thirteen year old Sasuke stumble into the dining room looking like a zombie.

Seeing Sasuke, Naruto though about the way Shisui had unlocked his Mangekyou. About a year before his death, Shisui was stationed in an extremely sensitive location where he was eventually compromised. Shisui had then spent the next three days fighting constantly to get back home, constantly molding chakra into his Sharingan. When he had finally gotten back to Konoha the sneer amount of continuously molded chakra in his Sharingan had caused it to evolve to a Mangekyou. Sasuke was trying to do the same thing at the moment but had only been able to hold his Sharingan for about a day and a-halve at best.

"So, think you'll need some of the Kyubi's Chakra to get through today?" Naruto asked referring to the seals he made that had the ability to purify the Kyubi's chakra and give it to other people to re-energize them.

Over the last few years Naruto and Sasuke had trained in private in the Uchiha compound, its presents always reminding them of the Genjutsu they had on them about the truth of the Uchiha Massacre. Naruto and Sasuke were both around mid-Chunin in strength due to their younger bodies but if they filled out they would both easily be mid-Jonin in strength. Naruto himself had started studying seals over the past four years and guarded his notes with righteous fury.

"No… I should be fine. The first year you hypnotized Iruka-sensei so he wouldn't be suspicious about our grades and then in the second year you took care of Mizuki."

Mizuki had tried to take Naruto's eyes during his second year at the academy but Naruto had chained him up and hypnotized him to spill his guts to the next person who asked him before Naruto dumped him off at the I&T department.

"Yep and from what I remember of our class scores…" Naruto said as he set the table. He had just made a traditional Japanese breakfast. "… it looks like one of your fan girls is going to be the third person on our team. Haruno Sakura I think her name was."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he began eating. Sasuke's fan club was infamously known through-out the whole village. When Naruto wasn't sure about how to act he immediately went with the obnoxious and loud personality as soon as he saw a group of fan girls try to mob Sasuke. They often had to rely on Naruto's Eye's Mind of the Kagura to avoid the fan girls to get to class on time.

Finishing breakfast and dumping the dishes in the sink Naruto and Sasuke headed towards to academy.

-line break-

-Konoha Ninja Academy;

Arriving at the classroom after dodging a mob of fan girls Sasuke immediately entered the class room and took, what Naruto had taken to calling, brooding pose #1 which was leaning back in the chair with the arms on the arm-rests and fingers interlaced.

Naruto on the other hand hide himself just outside the classroom so the 'dobe' would be late as 'usual'.

Hearing rumbling Naruto shifted a little to see fan girls- Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura running down the hall and trying to butt each other out of the way so they would get to the classroom first.

Watching them Naruto couldn't help but let out a little sigh at their future teammate. She was a completely and absolutely useless fan-girl. While she had near perfect marks in the classroom her Taijutsu and endurance scores were abysmal. Honestly an encyclopedia would have been more useful than her.

You could at least brain your enemy over the head with an encyclopedia.

Honestly almost all the Kunoichi in this year's graduating class were massive jokes except for one.

Hyuga Hinata, one of the few people in the village who knew Naruto and Sasuke's true capibilities.

Average test scores. Above average scores in Shurikenjutsu. Undefeated in Taijutsu for three years.

About a week into the first summer break Hinata was, what would later become a hobby of hers, stalking when she had happened upon Naruto and Sasuke training. She was so enraptured by the skill they were both showing that she let her guard down and they had caught her. Sasuke had suggested wiping her memory, but Naruto had remembered her from the Kumo incident almost nine years ago and asked her to keep what they were doing a secret and if she wanted to join them.

During the first training session (her uncle Hizashi would always cover for her and say she was training with him) Naruto had immediately noticed that the Hyuga Gentle-Fist style seemed too rigid for her. After that he and Sasuke had come up with a more flexible Taijutsu style for her that incorporated the Gentle-Fist but also used the legs, feet and elbows (Think Muey Thai) as means of delivering crippling Chakra strikes. Slowly but surely Hinata had begun winning their pure Taijutsu matches. When Hinata had asked them why they held back so much in the Academy Naruto had said that they were training to be Ninja and secrecy was a Ninja's first and best line of defense. After that Hinata also began holding back just enough to win each Taijutsu match in the academy, only to showing enough skill to get her father and the Hyuga clan elders off her back.

Hearing the bell ring and Iruka begin to call role Naruto burst into the door.

"Hey Iruka-sensei! Sorry I'm late but Sasuke-nii-teme forgot to set the alarm!" Naruto said with a wide grin as he scratched the back of his head.

"That's because I don't need an alarm clock dobe." Sasuke remarked as his fan girls swooned at how 'cool' he was.

Used to Naruto's antics Iruka just waved Naruto to go sit in his seat.

As Naruto sat in his seat next to Hinata Iruka began to go through the role again.

"Fu fu fu did you really need to be so loud Naruto-kun?" Hinata chuckled with a sly smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

"Of course. How else would they believe me Hinata-chan." Naruto said with a grin, Sharingan spinning in amusement.

Over last three years Hinata had gained much of her clans respect due to being hailed as a Taijutsu Prodigy on the same level as Neji. As a result she wasn't a stuttering wreck with no self-confidence. While she still wore her baggy sweater she had also grown her hair out so that it was near the middle of her back.

Even still she had not confessed to Naruto about the crush she still harbored on the red-head. While she had given him plenty of hints, Naruto was as Sasuke put it, "More dense then the steel-plating of Kiri's warships."

As Iruka began his lecture about how if they passed they would be true ninja Naruto though about a more… elegant solution to his problem with the Bunshin(Clone). Naruto was unable to use any Jutsu that he didn't reverse engineer. This was because of his Chakra being so much more potent then a normal persons, due to the Kyubi and his Uzumaki bloodline, that normal hand seals usually didn't work for him. He had to completely re-create the Jutsu so that it would cooperate with his Chakra rather then just exploding in his face. This was how he was able to use the Shunshin (Body Flicker), Kawarimi (Replacement) and Henge (Transformation). For the Bunshin he was just planning on filling the room with them.

As Iruka passed out the writing portion of the graduation exam Naruto almost absent mindedly filled out half the page before he left the other half blank, an idea he copied from his Shogi partner Shikamaru.

Shikamaru was the epitome of genius with an IQ of over 200 it's just too bad he was lazy as hell…

…but he was also the third person who, after Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto trusted with their true capabilities.

Rather than Hinata who discovered them by accident Shikamaru discovered it through pure brain power and observational skills. At first it was small things like Naruto and Sasuke not being winded after endurance training but as he began to pay more attention he found more and more things. Like how Naruto always had his two implanted Sharingan active and still bounced around like a rabbit while Sharingan Kakashi a Jonin of the village with a single implanted Sharingan, could only keep his active for maybe an hour before he collapsed from Chakra exhaustion or how Sasuke ALWAYS got just under perfect scores for everything. Eventually Shikamaru confronted them about it and after Naruto and Sasuke explained it to him he promised not to say anything as long as they came over for a game of Shogi every now and then.

Ten minutes later Iruka collected the test papers and had the class follow him outside for the Taijutsu test.

The Taijutsu tests were fairly uneventful except for Hinata nearly breaking Kiba's arm for hitting on her (She had made it very clear she had someone who her eye was on during the third year. Naruto being Naruto wished her good luck and said any guy would be lucky to be with her), Sasuke had fought Choji and Naruto had fought Shino.

After the rest of the class was tested they went back inside for the Ninjutsu-portion of the test.

Yawning Naruto sat at his desk waiting for his turn to do the tests. Bored Naruto decided to talk to Sasuke.

"So Duck-butt how's your pink eye coming along." Translation: What long do you think you can hold your Sharingan now?

"Almost there Girly-boy." Translation: Two days (In this story Naruto has his father's facial structure)

"OI! Who are you calling girly!"

"You. Hell you even have your own Bishonen sparkle."

"You're not one to talk!"

"TEME!"

"Dobe."

"Duck-butt!"

"Bishonen."

"Your Bishonen too!"

"I know but I don't have long hair like you." It was true. Naruto's hair, while spikey, reached down to just little below his neck in a small ponytail.

"!" Naruto was opening his mouth to scream at Sasuke when…

"Uzumaki Naruto" His name was called for the Ninjutsu test.

Settling for just glaring at him, Naruto made his way down the stairs over to Iruka.

"Ok please preform a Henge (Transformation), Kawarimi and at least three Bunshin." Iruka monotoned.

Turning into a copy of the Hokage, Naruto then switched himself with a log designated for the test before he released his Henge. He then put his fingers in a ram seal and closed his eyes in concentration.

"Naruto what are you doing? Preform the Bunshin." Iruka said curious as to what his student was doing.

"Got it Iruka sensei… just trying to use as little Chakra as I can." Naruto said eyes still closed.

Iruka nodded remembering a week ago when Naruto had broken the Chakra Measuring Device due to overloading it with Chakra.

Taking a deep breath Naruto opened his eyes "BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"…

… the class stared in stunned silence as every inch of the room was filled with Naruto's.

"Ok… you can dispel them now Naruto." Iruka said with wide eyes.

Sighing as he dispelled his clones Naruto grumbled "I don't understand why the Bunshin is on the test. It basically is a handicap for people with lots of Chakra."

"Well usually if they have too much Chakra they just make sure then three… even then they don't have as much Chakra as you do." Iruka said as he handed Naruto his headband.

"Tch. Whatever." Naruto said as he tied the headband around his forehead.

-line break-

-Random street in Konoha;

Walking back to their home in the Uchiha district Naruto and Sasuke talked about what kind of sensei they would get.

"Hmm I don't know… Kyu-chan says that we would probably get that Kakashi fellow due to him being the only person in the village who knows how to use the Sharingan. Naruto said with his hands behind his head.

"**Why do you insist on calling me Kyu-chan? You do know us Biju are genderless."**

'_Duno why do you still call me Chibi-kun even though I am decently tall for my height?'_

"**To me you're all tiny. I just gave you that name specifically because I know it annoys you."**

'… _I show you nothing but love! Why do you give me nothing but hate!'_

"**I am giving you my love, but because I'm a Biju it comes out as dry sarcasm."**

Sasuke just stared at his younger brother as a miniature rain cloud formed over Naruto's head and began raining on him.

-line break-

-Uchiha training grounds;

Sasuke grunted as he deflected a punch with his forearm and kicked his attacker back. Said attacker was a ninja wearing a neon orange jumpsuit. Back-flipping and landing on his feet Naruto created three small Chakra-shuriken and threw them at Sasuke who took out a kunai and deflected them. Focusing his Chakra into a bigger flat-sided shuriken (Like the kind Obito when he attacked Kakashi) Naruto threw it at Sasuke. Ducking underneath the flying wheel of death Sasuke charged at Naruto who formed another handheld Chakra shuriken and held it in his right hand to block a slash from Sasuke. Breaking off the deadlock with a leg sweep Naruto,that Sasuke jumped over and away from, created another shuriken in his left hand and threw them both at Sasuke. Substituting with a log that was trisected Sasuke flashed through hand signs ending on tiger.

"Katon: Gokakyu!" Sasuke shouted breathing out a stream of fire at Naruto.

Using his chakra as a marker instead of a brush Naruto quickly drew a seal in the air. Said seal glowed before swallowing all of the fire and disappearing but some of the fire had singed Naruto's cloths.

Creating a chain out of chakra Naruto sung it at Sasuke who flipped over it, throwing kunai that Naruto deflected with a snap of his chain.

Forming three hand-seals then ended on half-Tiger Sasuke began to breathe a stream of fire that compressed itself into a small ball in his hand.

'_O shit! Is he really going to use that here?!' _Naruto thought with wide eyes as he began creating a barrier with his chains.

"Katon: Zukokku." Said Sasuke as he finished forming the small fireball before throwing at Naruto.

When the fireball hit Naruto's barrier it erupted into a great firestorm that completely decimated the training ground.

When the smoke cleared a burned and smoking Naruto was lying in the center of the crater formed by the technique. "Uhhhhg… you're a jackass." Naruto said as his burned skin began to steam and heal.

"Hn. You're the one who said 'After this spar I want this disgrace to orange completely unrecognizable." Sasuke said with a smirk as he walked over to the brunt red-head.

Said jumpsuit was now destroyed to the point where it looked like a pair of shorts with one leg longer than the other.

"But still… damn. How are you already so good with Katon? I thought your main element was lightning."

"It is lightning. I only finished Zukokku last night and it wasn't anywhere near the full effect." Sasuke said offering Naruto a hand.

"Not near the full effect? What's the full effect?" Naruto asked taking the hand.

"I wouldn't have to throw it and I wouldn't have had to charge it."

"Whew. How far are you on Raiton:Gian?"

At this Sasuke scowled. "I still can't manipulate the direction it goes or move while I'm doing it."

"Meh you'll get there." Naruto said deactivating his Sharingan to reveal his Rinnegan.

As Sasuke helped Naruto hobble back to their house he asked something he had been meaning to ask for a while. "So what do those Rinnegan let you do anyway?"

"To be honest I have no idea. Right now I only know it gives me affinities to all five of the Nature Transformations. Maybe there will be something on it inside the Naka Shrine."

"Hn. Give me another month or two and I'll have the Mangekyou. The hard part is getting used to the constant drain of Chakra in your daily life. Not all of us are Chakra monsters like you."

Shooting Sasuke a dirty look Naruto grumbled "If you don't remember I could barely stay awake for the first year I had my Sharingan on constantly let alone move for the first month. Not to mention it drains like a tenth of the chakra from an Uchiha as it does for a none-Uchiha"

"I don't see how that's defending you against being a Chakra monster."

-line break-

-The next day;

Tying his hair back into its usual rough pony tail Naruto looked at himself in the mirrior. After disposing of the rest of his bulky orange jumpsuits he had put on a set of cloths he had spent the last year inscribing seals on.

While it might have just looked like a standard Chunin uniform minus the vest ( Dark blue pants with white bandages around ankles and a dark blue shirt with sleeves that ended mid-forearm and two red Uzumaki clan symbols on the shoulders) it was actually covered in seals. Seals that increased its durability, seals that caused it to repair itself, weight seals for training and finally a seal that caused the cloths to get bigger as he grew. The dark blue color was so the seals would blend in more when he ran chakra through the durability seal and it appeared all over the shirt and pants.

Sure it was plain but it was functional.

However not wanting to part with his favorite color completely Naruto finished his outfit with a dark orange scarf wrapped around his neck with a single weight seal inscribed into the stitching.

Sasuke's odd hobby of knitting had been useful after all.

Tying his headband around his arm Naruto set off for his last day at the academy.

-line break-

-the Academy;

The apocalypse was near. The end was coming and this was the sign from Kami that it was the end. As the whole class minus 3 people continued to stare said red-headed sign steadfastly ignored them as he continued reading his book on sealing.

"Ano… Naruto-kun?" Hinata hesitantly said seeing everyone staring at them.

"Yes Hinata-chan?" Naruto said turning with a smile that seemed to sparkle.

Blushing slightly, as she thought Naruto looked really good in his new cloths, Hinata continued.

"Everyone is staring… perhaps you should have waited until tomorrow to reveal yourself?"

"Hn. Maybe but I wanted to make a good first impression to whoever my Jonin-sensei is."

Hinata sighed. _'That's Naruto-kun. When he wanted to be he is quiet-_

"By the way, your cheeks are kind of flushed. Are you ok?" Naruto asked with genuine concern on his face. Said flush was instantly replaced with a tick mark.

_-Dense.'_

"Yes Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a sickly sweet smile as she radiated an aura that promised immense pain. "I am very ok. Are you ok?"

"Uh huh heh yah I'm fine." Naruto said as he tried to hide behind his book.

As Iruka walked into the classroom the scene he saw was one where the entire graduating class was staring at Naruto as if he was an alien while Hinata _glared_ at the boy.

'_Naruto must have had one of Hinata's hints that she liked him fly over his head again.' _Iruka mused.

Clearing his throat he gave his usual "I'm proud that you are all finally ninja and I hope you have a long and successful career" speech before he began to read out the people in each team

"Team one…"

Several moments later

"Team seven. Uchiha Sasuke. Haruno Sakura *insert obligatory fan girl screech*… ow… and Uchiha Naruto. Your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other to share a smirk.

"Team eight. Inuzuka Kiba. Hyuga Hinata and Aburame Shino. Your Jonin-sensei will be Yuhi Kurenai."

"Team nine is still in circulation."

"Team ten. Yamanaka Ino. Akamichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru. Your Jonin-sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma."

"That's all. Everyone be back here in one hour for your Jonin-sensei to pick you up."

As everyone got up to leave Kiba approached Hinata before he was intercepted by Naruto.

"Listen here dog breath. I don't have a problem with you personally but what I do have a problem with is you hitting on my friend when there is clearly someone else she likes and has rejected you multiple times. Now keep it in your pants or else I'll tell your sister." Naruto said glaring at the Inuzuka boy. Tossing a wave and a wink over his shoulder at Hinata, Naruto then left to catch up with Sasuke.

"Wow he is really dense isn't he." Kiba said as though he hadn't just gotten chewed out by the Dead-Last.

Letting out a sigh Hinata let her shoulders droop. "Yes. Yes he is but I choose him and I'll make him understand even if I have to smack him over the head with it. I'll see you later Kiba."

"Later Hinata!" Kiba said as he waved at Hinata's back. Feeling someone's stare Kiba looked up to see Shino staring at him with one eyebrow raised.

"We were trying to make Naruto jealous. Obviously didn't work and personally I'm fine with being just friends. Hinata scares me to be honest and I have enough women in my life who have me whipped."

Nodding in understanding Shino walked out the door without speaking a word.

-line break-

Catching up with Sasuke, Naruto asked "So what do you want to do for the hour before we meet our sensei? I'm not really hungry."

"I'm not hungry either. I guess we could go around and find out more about the guy."

"Alright. I'll go ask Ero-jiji you go ask around the village. Want to meet in front of the academy in like thirty minutes?" Naruto asked faintly remembering his ANBU guard from his childhood.

"Sure." Sasuke replied before both Ninja's disappeared in Shunshins.

-line break-

-Hokage tower;

"Yo Ero-jiji how's it going?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen the Sandaime Hokage let a smile come to his face as he turned to the window to see a grinning Naruto.

"So finally decided to stop hiding eh?" Sarutobi said with a knowing smile.

"Eh? How did you know?" Naruto asked looking surprised.

"My boy I may be old but I am the Hokage. Now what did you come here for I must get back to this infernal paperwork." Sarutobi replied glaring daggers at the pile of paperwork on his desk.

"Well I found out my Jonin-sensei is going to be Kakashi-niisan. Can you tell me anything about him?"

"Hmm… well I suppose I could tell you a few things…"

-line break-

-In front of the academy;

"So what did you find out about our sensei?"

"That he's a huge pervert…"

"And is always late…"

"And is super lazy…"

"… and values teamwork above all else…"

"… and is the only person left in the village with a Sharingan." Sasuke finished darkly.

"Those fools in the council probably want him to teach you how to use the Sharingan even though we already know most of the ins and outs of it." Naruto said no small amount of venom when he said the word council.

Sighing Sasuke said "Well at least he will be able to teach us some good Jutsu's. I hear that he's rumored to have copied over a thousand of them."

"Yeah but we would first have to pass his test."

"Test?"

"Ero-jiji told me that Kakashi-niisan has never passed a team in his time as a Jonin. Apparently there is another test after the graduation exam and Kakashi-niisan's is super hard."

"Nii-san?"

"You remember the Kumo incident where Hinata and I were almost kidnapped?"

"Hn."

"He was the one who rescued us from the Kumo-nin."

"Hn. So what do we do?"

"… let's just wait and see what the test is. Since he value's teamwork so much it will probably play some role in the test he uses."

"So… according to what people told me, Kakashi-niisan is three hours late to just about everything. What are we going to do until then?"

-line break-

Humming a tune to himself, Kakashi strolled along the halls of the academy. It was about three hours since he was supposed to pick a new team up, the one he had been failing teams the last couple years for, so he was just about on time. However upon entering the classroom he was surprised to find only one confused pink-haired Genin.

"Where are your teammates?" The silver-haired man asked his singular Genin.

"Um I don't know sir. After they left for the lunch break they never came back."

Feeling a finger taping his shoulder Kakashi turned around and looked down to see his two wayward Genin.

"Excuse me mister would you happen to know where our Jonin-sensei is? His name is Hatake Kakashi and is apparently a massive pervert so we were at the hot springs… uh looking for him ttebayo." The red haired one said with a twinkle in his eye that told him that they knew where he was the whole time.

The smirk the other one had didn't help either.

"Well Pinky *twitch*, Duck-ass*twitch twitch* and Chibi-kun *twitch twitch twitch* meet me on the roof." Kakashi said before disappearing in a Shunshin.

Looking at each other Naruto and Sasuke shrugged before forming the Ram Hand seal and also vanishing.

-line break-

-The roof;

"You two know the Shunshin?" Kakashi asked with his visible eye brow raised.

"Yeah. We know a lot of stuff Dattebayo! We just don't go around flaunting it around like samurai." Naruto exclaimed with a grin.

"Hn. Deception is a ninja's greatest tool after all." Sasuke grunted.

"It's good to see you again Kakashi-niisan." Naruto said with a smaller smile.

"So you still remember me eh?" Kakashi replied with an eye smile.

"Yeah… I never really thanked you for saving me and Hinata-chan… so thanks." Naruto said sheepishly scratching his cheek.

"Of course. I couldn't let my Otouto get kidnapped could I? On another note do you know how long until your team mate gets here?

"She's coming up the stairs now."

Almost on cue a head of pink hair appeared from the stairs.

"Ok go sit down on the bench and introduce yourselves."

"Well what do you want us to say sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Mmm well your name, your likes, dislikes, hobbies, goals and dreams."

"Well can you go first? So we can know how to do it?"

"Hmm ok. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like some things, dislike other things… I have no hobbies or goals really… I don't think you're all age appropriate to know my dreams."

The three Genin sweat-dropped '_He just told us his name!'_

"Well your next Pinky." Kakashi drawled in a bored voice at he pointed at Sakura.

"Um my name is Haruno Sakura. I like *looks at Sasuke and giggles* my hobbies are *looks at Sasuke and giggles* and my dream is *looks at Sasuke and giggles*."

"I see… any dislikes?" Kakashi said with a sweat drop. _'Ugh.., a fangirl.'_

"No not really." Sakura said with a happy look on her face.

"… ok. Duck Ass?"

Scowling Sasuke said "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like training with my brother, tomatoes and hawks. I dislike traitors and liars. My goals and dreams are the same, to revive the Uchiha clan and to confront my brother."

'_Odd… the file on him said he was an antisocial avenger with anger issues.' _" And finally you Chibi-Tomato-kun."

Tick-mark forming on his head Naruto said "My name is Uchiha U Naruto. I like seals, training with my brother and foxes. My dislikes are arrogant assholes, traitors, liars and people who can't tell a kunai from a scroll. My goal is to revive the Uzumaki clan and to confront my brother. My dream… my dream is to create a world of peace… a world where people won't have to go through the pain of losing their family."

'_Ok… whoever did the files on Naruto and Sasuke need to be fired. Their personalities' are completely off.'_

"Ok so now we know each other. We will make a good team… if you can pass the survival test that is."

Observing their reactions Kakashi noted that while Sakura was surprised, Naruto and Sasuke looked like something they suspected was just confirmed.

How interesting.

"A survival test? But sensei we already passed the graduation exam didn't we?" Sakura said confused.

"That was just a test to weed out the absolutely hopeless cases… but there's another test to see who truly has the metal to be a Ninja. Isn't there sensei?" Naruto asked with his Sharingan eyes slowly spinning.

Kakashi noted that while his Sharingan was almost unnoticeable when Naruto was being cheerful and exuberant when he got serious it had a real intimidation factor. "That's right. However this test only has a 66% fail rate. Only one out of every three teams pass. The test will be at 5:00 AM at training ground seven. I suggest you don't eat breakfast. You'll just throw it up." And on that ominous note Kakashi Shunshin'd away.

"Sakura. Don't go there at 5 am. Wait until 7:30 am and make sure to eat a hearty breakfast. Once we are all there we will devise a plan to take down Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke said.

Surprised at being addressed so suddenly she could only nod as Naruto and Sasuke Shunshin'd away.

Idly she noted that she would need to learn that at some point.

-line break-

'_So what do you think the test will be?'_

"**It will probably be the bell test. Someone Kushina knew was Kakashi's sensei and had given him the same one."**

'_Hm .I don't know what that is nor do I want to know. Do you think I should tell him about my Rinnegan?'_

Naruto was on the way to the Nara compound for his weekly game of Shogi with Shikamaru. The Nara guard, seeing who he was, opened the gate and let him in without any trouble.

"**Perhaps. Kakashi was very close with your parents. You could trust him."**

Seeing Shikamaru in their usual spot with the board already set Naruto went over and sat down to begin the game.

"So how's your Jonin-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"He's troublesome. Sounds like he's going to give us some test." Shikamaru said with a lazy drawl as always.

"Heh mine too. You better pass otherwise Yoshino-san will ream you out."

'_By the way when are you going to tell me about my father? I think I'm old enough to know at this point.'_

"Urg. Don't remind me."

"**I feel you don't have that final level of maturity just yet… I'll tell you what… how about I tell you… when you get your first kill as a Shinobi."**

To Naruto's credit he managed to keep his reaction completely on the inside.

'_What! Why?'_

"**Because while the academy may show you all these fancy little tricks you're not a true Shinobi until you take someone's life. At that moment as you watch the life drain from their eyes is the point where you change from a civilian with an understanding of his bodies energy's to a Shinobi. When you do take whatever poor fool's life that is unfortunate enough to be your first kill, look them in the eye. Burn that pain. That agony that hopelessness into your soul and make sure you never forget it. Because they will never forget you and perhaps if you can remember the emotions on the face of your first murder, to the point where it's not just another kill… you may be able stay human just yet."**

"You won…" Shikamaru said with wide eyes. While it happened it was once every blue moon.

"So what's on your mind?" Shikamaru asked. While Naruto did win sometimes it was usually because he was distracted by something else and going on auto-pilot.

"It's just… what we will have to do when we eventually become Shinobi." Naruto said spikey hair drooping.

"So your worried about your first kill huh… well let me put it the way my pops put it for me."

"Do not look away from death. It's a natural part of life. In when you have your first kill make sure to look them directly in the eye. Feel all the emotions that the person your killing feels. That way you can at least stay human because if you can ever kill another human being without feeling anything, then I don't want to know you anymore."

"I… see…" Naruto said with an odd look in his eye. "Well I'll see you next week Shika. If both our teams pass we should get together and train sometime."

"Alright, later"

-line break-

-Uchiha clan training grounds;

"Should we really be training before our big test?" Naruto asked as he went through some kata's with a claymore.

"It's fine. I can heal myself with Medical Ninjutsu and you have the Kyubi." Sasuke said firing off a Raiton:Gian.

"But still." Naruto grunted as his muscled burned from the strain. "Kakashi-niisan is probably the strongest Jonin in the village right now. We should make sure we go in at 100%."

"No… I don't think they would let a Jonin, let alone the strongest Jonin in the village, fight Genin at full power."

"Whatever I'm just about done so I'll head back early. I'll see you later." Naruto said as he finished his kata's and dispelled his chakra blade.

Hearing the customary "Hn." Naruto went home to get to bed and set his alarm clock for 7:15…

-line break-

**-**The next morning;

As Naruto got up and made his way to the training ground after a quick breakfast he thought about telling Kakashi about the Rinnegan. The only other person who knew about it was Sasuke. No one other than the Kyubi and Sasuke knew about it and he had gone to great lengths to keep it that way.

Arriving at Training Ground Seven Naruto say Sasuke and Sakura sitting on the bridge discussing something. Focusing his Mind's Eye outward Naruto tried to find Kakashi. Perhaps he was already testing them? However to Naruto's surprise he found Kakashi standing somewhere miles away.

Shaking his head to clear the thoughts of the odd habits his sensei had Naruto made his way to his team mates after they waved him over.

"So what do you think the test will be Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Probably something to do with teamwork. Keep that in mind when Kakashi-sensei tells us what the test is." Naruto said.

"How do you know it will be something about teamwork?" Sasuke asked.

"Well Konoha is known for how well its Shinobi work together, and like I told you before, team work is one of the things Kakashi-sensei values." Naruto said scratching his cheek with one finger.

"During the test we should make sure to stick together then." Sasuke said

"Not quiet. Ero-jiji told me that Kakashi hadn't passed a team yet so he probably will try to trick us in some way." Naruto pointed out.

"Oh and who is this Ero-jiji?" a voice asked from behind them.

"""Gah!""" all three Genin jumped as they turned around to see their sensei.

"Hello to you too my potential kawaii Genin." Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

"When did you get here Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked having activated his Sharingan on reflex.

"Just now. We can begin the test now." Kakashi said as he took out two box lunches and a clock, before putting them on a training log.

"You have until mid-day to get these bells." Kakashi said holding up two silver bells that he attached to his waist.

"Anyone who doesn't get a bell… will be sent back to the academy and tied to the stumps while they watch the others eat."

Raising an eyebrow when he didn't hear any of their stomachs growl he asked "Did you all eat breakfast even though I told you not to?"

"Not quiet Kakashi-sensei. You suggested we not eat breakfast. You didn't actually tell us not to." Naruto pointed out.

"Hmm I see… make sure you come at me with the intent to kill otherwise you'll never get a bell…"

"But sensei, wouldn't you get hurt?" Sakura asked.

"No… if he could be beat by a team of Genin he wouldn't be a Jonin." Sasuke smirked Sharingan spinning.

"Well… ready… start." Kakashi said as he took out his book and the three children disappeared.

-line break-

'_Well at least they are decently hidden.'_ Kakashi mused as he read his book.

Snapping his book shut, he swung his head back before it could be cut off by a giant blue shuriken that passed over him.

"Hmm I can't say I've ever seen that before."

Dropping his weighted scarf on the floor with a loud bang Naruto focused his Chakra into his arm.

"Then you probably haven't seen this either." Naruto said as his Chakra formed into chains coming out of his arm before he swung them at Kakashi who danced through them.

Dispersing his Chakra chains Naruto formed a claymore before charging at Kakashi.

As he began dodging Naruto's swings Kakashi thought to himself _'Hmm… even Kushina-neesan didn't have this level of control over her bloodline. Interesting…'_

Seeing that close combat was getting him nowhere Naruto jumped back and threw his claymore at Kakashi who casually step-sided it.

"Whew. You're good." Naruto said getting into another ready stance.

"Well if I wasn't I wouldn't be a Jonin."

"You didn't let me finish. Your good…" Naruto smirked as he formed a half-Ram seal.

"Katon: Gokakyu!" Kakashi heard from his side and tried to dodge but found he couldn't move due to a glowing seal on the side of his arm.

"But you're not that good."

'_Damn. Hokage –sama told me they were better than they let on but I didn't expect Naruto to already know seals' _Kakashi said as a massive fireball impacted the area where he was standing.

"Hn. Keep your guard up Naruto. You know that wasn't enough to kill an A-rank Shinobi." Sasuke said as he exited the foliage and stood back to back with Naruto.

"I know. I saw him molding some Chakra before the fireball hit but I couldn't figure out what Jutsu he used." Naruto said looking around with his Sharingan.

"Not above us…"

"Not East or South…"

"Not North or West…"

""THEN BELOW!"" Both boys shouted as the jumped away just as two hands emerged from the ground.

"Hmm… You both have your Sharingans active but I don't." Kakashi said slowly as he raised his headband to reveal his closed Sharingan eye. "Let's even the score a bit."

When Kakashi opened his Sharingan eye he was damn near blinded by the red-head to his right.

The kid had Chakra coming off him in waves, saturating the air around him. When Kakashi had heard Naruto had gotten two transplanted Sharingan, Kakashi had thought the regenerative powers of the Kyubi had caused it to take less chakra from Naruto than it did for him normally. Kakashi was wrong. For almost four years Naruto had the constant drain from two implanted Sharingan and because of that it increased Naruto's reserves to the point where it had felt like someone had just shined the world's brightest light into his eye.

"… ok nevermind." Kakashi said with a sweat-drop lowering his headband over his eye again.

Now they had the advantage Kakashi mused. _'I can't use my Sharingan without being blinded and I can feel Sasuke and Sakura lairing Genjutsu on me… at this rate I'm not going to last… I really need to get myself back in shape.' _Taken down by Genin. How humiliating.

Trying to think of a plan Kakashi was taken by surprise when the ground around him erupted and chains shot out making a barrier around him. Looking to his right he saw chains coming from behind Naruto's back just outside the barrier and going into the ground. Looking to his left he saw Sasuke go through three hand seals ending on Tiger and breathing a stream of fire into a small fireball in his hand.

'_O shit is that-'"_Katon: Zukokku."

And Kakashi's world exploded in flames.

-line break-

As Kakashi regained consciousness he felt that he was tied up and that someone was healing the worst of the burns he had. Remembering what had possibly led to this situation he mentally groaned. _'Ugh… even though they did display teamwork the three of them weren't supposed to beat me… Uggggh I'm never going to hear the end of this if it gets out.'_

"So how long until Sensei is healed?" a voice Kakashi identified as Sakura's asked.

"Hn. He should be waking up soon. You were right Naruto. He does rely on his Sharingan way too much. He didn't even notice the Genjutsu Sakura was putting on him until you broke it when you created the barrier."

"I don't really deserve any credit Sasuke-kun. You and Naruto-san did all the work. Even the Genjutsu I used was Naruto's idea."

"Don't worry about it Sakura-chan! I'm sure that since we beat him he'll pass us even if we didn't get the bells."

Groaning Kakashi decided to make himself known. Opening his original eye "What happened to the bells?"

Chuckling sheepishly as he scratched his cheek Naruto held up two pieces of charcoal.

"So do we pass?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sighing Kakashi nodded "Yeah. The test was meant to get you to show teamwork and you did. Granted you weren't supposed to beat me. On a side note how do you deal with the red-headed walking searchlight over there?" Kakashi asked nodding towards Naruto.

Ignoring Naruto's indignant shout Sasuke smirked and shrugged. "I had five years to get used to it. But you do need to do something about situations where the enemy can do something to your Sharingan. That was pathetic to be honest."

"Yeah yeah I get it." Kakashi sighed again then rested his head as he waited for Sasuke to finish healing him.

-line break-

**AN: Ok here is the first chapter of canon. Expect future chapters to be around this long give or take 1000 words. The next is going to be a training montage and part one of the Wave Mission. If Sasuke and Hinata seem OOC let me clarify that Itachi didn't mindrape Sasuke with Tsukuyomi and while Hinata still had to deal with her father, Neji wasn't also being an ass, Hizashi was there to support her and she had been friends with her crush for about three years. Also if Kakashi seems kind of weak I feel in the beginning of canon without his Sharingan he isn't that good. Sasuke and Naruto are both Chunin-level Shinobi with the element of surprise, his Sharingan was nullified and he was still underestimating Naruto and Sasuke. All those factors combined caused him to get pwned. Btw I won't reveal much but Naruto will be unlocking one of his 'paths' in the Wave Ark and by part two he will only have two of the six 'paths' unlocked. While I was originally going to nerf the Rinnegan I think this would also nerf it in a way and let me use it as a plot device. Also props to Third Fangs fic Yet Again with a Little Extra Help, where I got the idea of letting Naruto's Chakra saturate the air around him. You guys should check him out. Longest (and funniest) Naruto fic on the site and he also has a pretty damned good fic for Fate/Stay Night.**

**Follow and Review! Worship the log! Wait eagerly for the Fate/Stay Night Heaven's Feel anime animated by UFOtable and Review again!**

**Edit1: Changed the explanation as to why Naruto couldn't use Jutsu's. I was at the gym and my muse just became inspired.**


	6. Chapter 5: A Blade to Protect

A Blade to Protect

I don't own Naruto or any references I make in this fic

-Training ground 7;

"GAH! DAMNIT!"

That was the voice of red-haired Naruto as he had a compressed sphere of Chakra he was trying to make blow up in his face again.

It had been a week since they had become the new Team 7. While Kakashi had insisted that they do team-work exercises when they weren't doing D-rank missions (chores) Naruto and Sasuke had vehemently argued against that. While Kakashi still refused to train them for real the brothers could tell that they were wearing him down.

Right now the brothers where practicing while waiting for their sensei to show up while their third team mate was reading a book on Anatomy.

While Sakura was a major fan girl at first, Sasuke insisting that being a Shinobi was dangerous and while he cared for her safety that he didn't want to have to always protect her either.

Huffing at how he still couldn't do the Bijudama, Naruto looked into the river to see his Mangekyou activated again.

'_Hey it looks like we are going to up the Four Pillar Reverse Consumption Seal. My Mangekyou is starting to randomly activate again.'_

"**Just make sure you consult the sage when you get a chance."**

The Four Pillar Reverse Consumption Seal was something Naruto and Jiraiya came up with as his Chakra began to become unmanageable about two years ago. What it did was cause a portion of the Chakra that Naruto used to flow back into the seal and into the Kyubi. When they had first applied it the Kyubi had… for a like of a better term acted like Naruto for a week to its eternal shame. Now they warned it before they did so that it could get ready for the influx of Humanized-Chakra. At the moment 28% of Naruto's Chakra would be channeled back into the Kyubi. While it did serve its purpose it also had the unfortunate side effect of causing Naruto's Chakra Coils to expand even more so Naruto had already been forced to increase the flow-back three times.

Lifting up his shirt and channeling Chakra Naruto watched as the Four Pillar Reverse Consumption Seal appeared with the kanji for 28 in the center appeared superimposed over his Eight Trigrams Seal. Twisting it to the right until it read 34 Naruto stopped channeling Chakra and let it disappear as his Mangekyou reverted to its normal Sharingan state.

"Who'd thought having too much Chakra could be a problem?" Naruto sighed as Kakashi appeared.

"**Now you understand why a Biju's arsenal consists of gathering Chakra into a sphere, compressing it and blowing everything to hell."**

'_Thanks for teaching me the Bijudama by the way.'_

"**It's fine. While you can't blow everything to hell like us Biju can your smaller version is acceptable for a human."**

"Hello my kawaii little Genin. Are you ready to do more teamwork exercises?" Kakashi said with an eye smile.

"Hn. I don't understand why you have us doing these. If anything you're only alienating Sakura more." Sasuke grunted.

"Oh what do you mean?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Simple. Because Naruto and I already have great teamwork the only reason you would be having us do these teamwork exercise all the time is because of Sakura. Meaning that the reason you're not teaching us anything is also because of Sakura." Sasuke explained calmly though you could hear hints of irritation in his voice.

Turning to Naruto, Kakashi asked" Naruto do you feel the same way?"

"Not really but if you don't start helping me soon then I might accidently kill myself because I mess up a Jutsu and then Sasuke really will hate you and Sakura." Naruto said pointing to his Chakra burns.

"**I would never let you die from something as stupid as that."**

'_I know but they don't.'_

Seeing the look of panic on Sakura's face Kakashi sighed "Alright we will spend the first hour together doing teamwork then if I think you guys are good enough then we can do other stuff."

"Good enough!? Good enough!? It was Sasuke and Sakura that helped me put Tora in your shower three days ago for always being late!" Naruto shouted with his arms in the air.

Turning to Sasuke and Sakura, who began sweating; Kakashi's visible eye gleamed with sadistic light. "I see… Then let's begin with some warm-ups then…"

-line break-

On the other side of the village a man in green spandex and a Chunin vest, with huge eyebrows and a bowl cut stopped and looked towards the sky.

"I feel a disturbance in the Spring Time of Youth, almost as if someone's Youth screamed out in horror, before it was suddenly silenced."

-line break-

-Two hours later at Training Ground Seven;

"Please… huff… huff… sensei… let me rest huff… huff… or kill me… I really don't care at this point." Sakura said as she laid face down on the ground.

"H… huff… n." Sasuke grunted as he lay on his back.

"Eh I'm going to go do another lap. I'm not really tired yet." Naruto said before he got up and started running again.

Staring at the back of the red head with seemingly infinite stamina the remaining members of Team Seven couldn't help but sweat drop.

"Huff… there is something… huff… wrong with that boy." Sakura said with a twitching eyebrow.

"Hn… huff… there is a reason why… huff… we don't have any coffee or sweets in our house." Sasuke added his two cents.

"Well… at least he's going to have a very happy girlfriend someday." Kakashi said almost off handedly.

Seeing Sakura staring at him non-believingly Kakashi just let out a flat "What?"

"Did you really just say that about a twelve year old?" Sakura asked with wide eyes and a small blush on her cheeks before she turned to Sasuke.

"And you! That's your brother he's talking about!" Sakura almost screamed.

Sasuke, who still had not moved from his spot on the ground, just shrugged. "His godfather is a self-proclaimed super pervert. You get used it hearing about it eventually. Hell part of the reason we decided that I would be the one who'd be Rookie of the Year and get a fan club is because if his godfather ever heard that Naruto had fan girls he would never let it go."

Deciding to get the training back on track Kakashi interjected "So what did you want to learn exactly?"

Sasuke made a hmm'ing noise. "I know Naruto wants to know about elemental training and manipulation because otherwise he can't use Ninjutsu due to his extremely powerful Chakra right now the only thing he can do, other than his weapons creation, is compress his Chakra and use it like a bomb. I want to learn some basic elemental manipulation but I want to focus on my speed."

Kakashi shook his head "I never thought I would see the day when someone has to much Chakra to do Jutsu's."

Sitting up Sasuke grunted "Hn. But that's not the main problem. It's his Chakra being so dense and powerful that he can't use standard hand seals to mold it. To learn Jutsu's he would have to completely re-engineer them."

Rubbing his chin Kakashi muttered "I see… and his dense Chakra is how he creates those weapons he always uses in spars." _'Since his Chakra is so dense if Naruto is lightning natured then he would be just a few steps away from Chidori…'_

"Hn." Sasuke grunted before he turned to Sakura. "So what do you want to learn Sakura? If you want to learn about Medical Ninjutsu I can teach you the basics. You would probably be a better Medical Ninja then me because of your smaller reserves."

Blushing Sakura smiled. "I'd like that." Sighing Sakura continued "really now that I know how strong you and Naruto truly are I am starting to feel really inadequate."

Hearing what Sakura just said as he jogged in Naruto just shook his head and waved his hand. "Don't worry about it Sakura-chan. We are actually pretty averages as far as Shinobi go, we just train alot."

"Average Shinobi don't throw around B-ranked Katon and Raiton Jutsu's before their 14 nor do they have so much Chakra and such powerful Chakra that it actually stops them from doing Justu's" Sakura deadpanned.

Chuckling Naruto could only sheepishly scratch his head. Shaking his head Kakashi decided to get things started. "Ok Naruto I heard from Sasuke that your interesting in elemental manipulation? *nod* Well I'll get you started on that. Do you know what your elemental affinity is?*another nod* Ok that saves time. Sasuke you go get Sakura started on Medical Ninjutsu and meet back in two hours. Let's break."

-line break-

-With Sasuke and Sakura;

"Ok Sakura. Medical Ninjutsu is the use of chakra to manipulate another's, or your own, body. Because of this it requires a complete understanding of human anatomy. The initial test for one to become a medical nin is to revive a dead fish. I'll teach you the basics but you're going to have to go to the hospital to get real training. For now, here are the hand seals. Let's practice molding your Chakra…

-line break-

-With Naruto and Kakashi;

"Alright Naruto what is your elemental affinity?" Kakashi asked in a bored tone.

"Uhhh Kakashi-sensei can you keep a secret?" Naruto asked scratching the back of his head.

"Depends. Does this secret pose any harm to yourself, your teammates or the village?"

"No, no and no."

"Then I don't see why not." Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

"Ok." Naruto said closing his eyes.

When he opened them they had a miniature pupil with six concentric rings and an ice-blue glow.

"What… is that?" Kakashi asked a little freaked out by the odd looking eyes.

"Um… their called the Rinnegan and to be honest I have no idea what they do beside give me an affinity to all five elements. This is the base form of my eyes and the reason I have my Sharingan on all the time is to hide them."

"I… see." Kakashi said. It was understandable that he would want to keep it a secret with people like Danzo running around.

Turning his Sharingan back on Naruto asked "So what element do you want to start on? Ero-sennin already started me on earth."

Shaking the surprise off Kakashi focused again. '_Ero-sennin? Must be Jiraiya-sama.' _"Hmm I think I'll start you on lightning then since it is my main element. Also due to your naturally dense Chakra there is a Jutsu that I think would be perfect for you. I'll show you it later with Sasuke after you both finish the first step so you guys will have a decent idea of what to do."

Taking a leaf from a tree Kakashi handed it to Naruto. "Ok Naruto what you want to do to train a lightning affinity is vibrate your chakra to increase its piercing power and speed. When applied to a leaf the result is…" Kakashi took a leaf and put in in-between his hands for a moment. When he opened them again the leaf was completely wrinkled up. "… this. When you can do this in less than two minutes I'll show you the Jutsu. Now I hear you have no way of making clones without making like a hundred of them?"

Nodding Naruto put the leaf in-between his hands and sat down with a look of concentration on his face.

"Alright. Well I'll show you a Jutsu that you can use instead of Bunshin called Kage Bunshin in the meantime. However don't use it too much."

"Why?" Naruto said confused.

"The Kage Bunshin isn't like other clones. It forms a solid clone, by splitting the users Chakra in half and any memories the clone gets the original gets to once it is dispelled however it is very Chakra intensive even I can't make more than four in one day. So if you use it to much…"

"My already unmanageable Chakra will become even worse." Naruto said with a sweatdrop.

"Correct. I'll leave it up to you how many you want to use for training but remember my warning. Now when you dispelling your clones here's what you want to do…"

-line break-

-Two hours later;

When Team 7 met again in the training ground Naruto's clones were able to wrinkle the leaf in five minutes and Sakura was able to do the basic Mystic Palms Jutsu.

While Naruto and Sakura were off doing their thing Sasuke was training with Kakashi. After explaining how to do the basic leaf exercise for lightning they were now training his speed. And when I say training I mean Kakashi beating the crap out of Sasuke.

Letting out 'oof' as a fist buried itself into his gut Sasuke tried to dodge the kick that sent him air-born but he wasn't fast enough and landed flat on his back. Kakashi turned to address all his students "Ok take a ten minute rest if you need to, we will go do some D-ranks until the afternoon."

Grunting Naruto shifted into a meditative stance while sitting and dispelled his clones, getting ready to sort out the influx of information. Sakura stopped molding Medical Chakra and flopped down on the grass. Sasuke sat up and began healing himself.

-line break-

Naruto was walking to a Dango hut (Sasuke had been kidnapped by a mob of fan girls of whom included Sakura) when he came across Hinata and Team Eight in said Dango hut.

"Heeey Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled with a wave as he walked over to afore more mentioned team grinning like an idiot.

"Ara Naruto-kun, how are you and your team doing?" Hinata said with a smile.

"I'm good Hinata-chan! We finally got our lazy ass of a teacher to teach us something." Naruto said before turning to the other members of Team Eight and giving them each a short bow. "Good afternoon Yuhi-san, Dog-Breath"HEY!", Shino-san."

"Good afternoon. Naruto-san." Kurenai said with a smile while Shino just nodded.

"Hey my breaths not that bad!" Kiba objected.

"Yes it is." Was Shino's stoic reply.

"Sorry Kiba-kun." Hinata said with a smile.

"I think it's a part of your… unique character." Kurenai said as a small raincloud formed over Kiba's head.

"Arf!" Akamaru finished the combo as a lightning bolt from the raincloud hit Kiba on the head and knocked him out of his seat.

Turning her attention from the sobbing Kiba and looking around Hinata noticed something was missing "Ano Naruto-kun? Where is your team?"

"Aha…ha… Kakashi went to go do... whatever it is Kakashi does in his spare time and Sasuke kinda got kidnapped by some fan girls on our way back so I came here to get some Dango for when he gets home later tonight." Naruto said as he scratched his cheek

"**Bullshit. You tripped the Uchiha. You even smirked at him as he was getting dragged into the mob."**

'_No I didn't…'_

"**Don't lie to me boy, I'm in your mind. I know everything that goes on up in here."**

'_Well he called me Chi- wait what? Seriously!? Everything!?'_

"**Yes. EVERY thing."**

'…'

"…"

'_If I ever get you out of the seal you wouldn't tell Ero-Senin about-'_

"… **Maybe."**

"What about Sakura?" Shino asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I thought I mentioned the fan girls?" Naruto said looking oddly innocent while the members of Team Eight, minus Kiba, all grew sweat drops on their head.

Naruto turned to give Hinata a smile (Complete with bishonen sparkles) "So how's it going Hinata. I missed you. We should get back together and spend some time together like we did in the academy."

"I missed you to Naruto-kun and I'd like that." Hinata said with a blush on her face

Kurenai was somewhat amused at how Naruto was completely oblivious to Hinata's crush on him.

Yeah there wasn't anyone in Konoha, besides Naruto, who didn't know about the Hyuga Heiress's crush. While most civilians didn't like it many of the Shinobi actually supported it due to Naruto being the last of an extinct clan. There was even a betting pool for when Naruto finally figured it out.

She personally had bet around sixteen. That's usually when teenagers, especially Shinobi, did the dirty. In their line of work the next mission always could be the last and you never knew when you'd come home in a body bag.

Also it helped that she heard a rumor that was about when Hiashi's wife had gotten tired of his stoicism and jumped him. Hinata was very much like her mother.

"Anyway I'll cya guys later!" Naruto said as he was handed a bag of Dango and left.

-line break-

-Uchiha district, Naruto and Sasuke's house;

"I hate you."

"What!? It was an accident."

"Bullshit. I saw you smirk at me before the fan girls dragged me away."

"At least Sakura got you out of there?"

"After she spent five minutes drooling over me and as I was dodging the more rabid fan girls."

"Really? I would have thought they'd have bound and gagged you."

"…"

"What?"

"…"

"I said I was sorry ok!"

"There will be vengeance. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not this week. Maybe not this month. Maybe not even this year. But there will be vengeance." Sasuke said with a dark look in his eye as he finished the Dango.

"Eheh… why don't we get started on that exercise Kakashi-sensei gave us." Naruto said as he tried to change the topic.

"Hn."

-line break-

-the next day training ground seven;

"Alright Naruto and Sasuke how far did you get on the leaf exercise? I know you both practiced it when you went home last night." Kakashi said remembering that Sakura was at the hospital to help her with Medical Ninjutsu and would be with them around mid-day.

"Well with clones I was able to get it down to two minutes." Naruto said grinning.

"…and how many clones did you use?" Kakashi asked in a deadpan.

"He used thirty. I'm down to two minutes also." Sasuke said.

"How did you. get it so fast Sasuke? I know Naruto used the Kage Bunshi-"

"I've been using Lightning Jutsu in our spars for about two years now. My Chakra was already conditioned, on top of my natural affinity, to be more lightning natured." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"I see…listen… Naruto… Sasuke… this Jutsu I'm about to teach you… it's not a blade to kill your enemies… it's a blade to protect your precious people… a blade so that those you hold dear aren't taken away from you… promise me that you'll wield this blade not for vengeance or for glory… but to protect your precious people…"

Seeing the haunted look in their sensei's eyes Naruto and Sasuke couldn't help but nod.

Receiving two nods Kakashi went through three hand seals ending on Monkey before he gripped his right hand with his left.

White lightning began to surge around Kakashi before gathering into his palm where it condensed and wrapped around his hand.

"This is the Chidori **(One Thousand Birds) **an A-rank assassination technique**, **my only original Jutsuand what I'm going to be teaching you. Once you get Jonin-rank and enough proficiency in this then I will teach you the version of Chidori that I use..."

The lightning dancing around Kakashi seemed to intensify and focus turning blue.

"…The Raikiri **(Lightning Cutter).**"

Seeing the shining looks that Sasuke and Naruto were giving him he couldn't help but chuckle.

'_I still got it.'_

"Now can either of you tell me what my Chakra looked like when I used the Chidori?"

"It was super condensed around your hand." Sasuke immediately pointed out.

"Correct. And what did the handseals do?"

"It condensed the Chakra and changed the nature to Lightning… It's the perfect Jutsu for me!" Naruto realized as his eye's lite up.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said as he and Sasuke were already going through the hand seals and focusing their Chakra.

"Just remember what I said about the Chidori."

"It's a blade to protect what you hold dear."

-line break-

-a few weeks later Training ground 7;

Kakashi stood in the middle of the training ground, both eyes uncovered and closed. There was no sign of his usual Icha Icha and his body was tensed both arms hanging at his sides and a kunai in one hand.

Mismatched eye's snapping open, Kakashi ducked just as a giant Chakra-shuriken passed over his head. Turning around to parry a kunai slash Kakashi snap kicked his duck-haired attacker back and leaped back as two chains smashed into where he was standing.

Hearing the sound of something swishing though the air Kakashi blocked a punch. He turned to face his now-whiskered red-haired attacker before getting smacked in the face by an orange fox tail. Doing a back flip Kakashi began to run though seals as he saw Sasuke doing the same.

""Raiton:Gian**(Lightning Style: False Darkness)**!"" They both said finishing their handseals at the same time as they shot streams of lightning towards each other.

Being the older and more experienced Shinobi Kakashi's attack should have overpowered Sasuke and it would have if Kakashi hadn't had to release his Jutsu to avoid getting a seal placed on him. Kakashi engaged Naruto in a Taijutsu match while he kept an eye on Naruto's hands so that Naruto couldn't place a seal on him. Sucker punching Naruto, Kakashi landed a very hard spinkick to his head to knock him back before jumping back as a stream of lightning crashed into where Kakashi was standing before.

"Katon: Gokakyuu **(Fire Style:Grand Fireball)" **Sasuke said breathing out a huge fireball at the airborne Kakashi. When the fireball hit him and exploded, smoking timber fell out of the smoke signifying a kawarimi** (Body Replacement).** Sasuke extended his senses to look for Kakashi.

Sensing a presence behind him Sasuke turned to see Kakashi right behind him. Dodging the fist aimed at his soleus plexus Sasuke threw a punch at Kakashi's face.

Dodging the arm Kakashi snaked his arm around Sasuke's before pulling violently and dislocating his shoulder.

Biting back a scream of pain Sasuke began channeling lightning chakra to the arm that was still entwined with Kakashi's. Kakashi jerked, feeling the lightning chakra coursing through out his system before he put a knee in Sasuke's stomach to knock him out.

Seeing Sasuke slump over Naruto couldn't help but smirk. This was the power of ANBU captain Kakashi rather than the pathetic loser they had fought for their final Genin exam. Drawing on more of the Kyubi's power until the one-tailed cloak formed, battle was joined…

-line break-

"Jackasss…." A beaten up Naruto cursed as Sakura reset the bones in his arm.

"You're the one who wanted to fight me at my full power." Kakashi said nonchalantly even though he had lost his vest, headband,and was still slightly smoking from Sasuke's last attack.

Sasuke who was holding his dislocated shoulder grunted. "Hn. Hard to believe Naruto and I used to be able to take you down handily only a few weeks ago."

Sakura who was done healing Naruto moved to Sasuke. "I think that's a good thing. If sensei hadn't started training with us then he wouldn't have gotten so much stronger."

Kakashi showed no outward reaction "It's not so much I'm getting stronger so much as I'm regaining what I've lost… these past few years out of ANBU really took their toll…"

"Mmm I thought you seemed kind of weak for an ANBU captain… by the way what was that weird power that Naruto was using?" Sakura asked.

"That was the Kyubi. It's sealed inside me." Naruto said.

"Oh ok." Sakura shrugged.

"Really? Just oh ok? What is with people and not reacting in a way that lets me make fun of them later!" the now healed Naruto said bouncing up and down.

"I know about Jinchuriki from the class lectures. To be honest I figured out the Kyubi had a Jinchuriki a week after our team was formed when my fan-girl-ness started to bleed off. Granted I expected him to be a loud-mouth retard or a socially inept introvert. To be honest compared to the stories of Jinchuriki from other nations that I've heard of, you're fairly well rounded. Not to mention when you use its power you grow only a tail and whiskers. What's up with that anyway?"

"Uhh… that was my initial Jinchuriki state… wait what stories of Jinchuriki? I never heard any." Naruto said confused.

"That's odd. My parents would tell me about them all the time. When I was little I was actually scared of them but when I founded out how they were treated it's not that surprising" Sakura said with a shrug.

"Well you have Suna who's Jinchuriki who kills anyone who looks at him the wrong way." Salura began as she finished healing Sasuke and moved to Kakashi." One of Iwa's Jinchuriki hates humanity; Kumo's Jinchuriki apparently has a rap fetish… and then you have the Mizukage who's probably one of the worst. He ordered genocide of all bloodline users and caused Kiri to erupt into a civil war." Sakura said with a shiver.

'_How could all of them be like that… what happened?' _Naruto thought with wide eyes.

"**Because typically Biju and Jinchuriki don't get along like we do. Imagine for a moment that the Uchiha hadn't adopted you. You wouldn't be the same as you are now, probably having no faith in humanity, due to the way Konoha disrespected your father's sacrifice, and only looking out for yourself. However because the Uchiha's adopted you, the love you felt from your family offset the hatred you felt for the village. But imagine that you never knew that love, that at best we had an antagonistic relationship."**

"**You would have become as your female team mate said and probably never even have figured out your parentage."**

"Yeah… that's probably true Sakura-chan." Naruto told his female team mate as she finished healing their sensei.

"Why did I not feel anything from your Chakra though? From the stories the adults told me I would have thought it to feel like bloodlust incarnate." Sakura said.

"Well that's from the belief that a Biju's will comes with its Chakra. While that's true if the Biju is actively trying to take over if it's not its power is just energy in its purest, rawest form and that usually causes the Jinchuriki's desires to become magnified. Typically they are well… like you described and since people don't want to admit that they are the ones who caused the Jinchuriki to become like that they just say it's the Biju." Naruto said with a sad look on his face.

"How do you know all of this Naruto?" Sakura said with a raised eyebrow.

"The Kyubi wasn't behind the attack 12 years ago. That's all I'll say." Naruto said as he and Sasuke stood up. Nodding Sakura accepted the explanation.

Stretching out his muscles as he stood up, Kakashi said,"Ok well rest up for a few minutes while I go get another vest from my home. Then when I get back we'll go do some missions.

-line break-

"This is Cyclopes. Everyone is position?"

"This is Cherry. I'm in position."

"Hn, Duck-ass in position."

"Why couldn't I just make a clone for this?"

"Because it's not fair that you get to train while the rest of us have to do these chores. Now are you in position Chibi?"

"… not a Chibi… I'm in position."

"Then converge on the target."

Three figures leapt out from the shadows. The target dodged the first figure, making sure to leave some scratch marks on the way, before head butting the second figure in between the legs making him go down with a wheeze before it jumped into the third figure's arms.

Naruto chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head as he saw his two teammates groaning on the ground. For some reason Tora seemed to like him but would cause extreme pain to anyone else that got close to her.

"Target captured. Ribbon confirmed on left ear. Mission to capture Tora complete."

-line break-

-Hokage tower;

"Ohhh my precious Tori. How I missed you!" The daimyo's wife said as she subjected Tora to lowest level level of Marshmallow Hell.

"_SQUEEZE! SQUEEEEZE!" _Where the slightly murderous thoughts of a certain duck-haired Uchiha who was still limping and his getting-better-but-still-kind-of-a-fangirl teammate who had claw marks all-over her face.

"Thank you for another mission well done Team Seven." Sarutobi said with a smile. He thought it was odd how the demon-cat hurt everyone except Naruto. It was like some lame plot device to make a certain cat-like girl, who was Naruto's fiancé, more comfortable around our favorite red head. If this was a story then the Author would have to be really lazy to do something like that.

Don't judge me.

'_I really should tell Naruto about his fiancé soon.' _Sarutobi mused. '_Otherwise she might suddenly show up in a crowded room and announce that Naruto was her husband. Man that would be awkward. It's a good thing that stuff only happens in bad harem manga. I mean the only other girl that likes Naruto like that is the Hyuga Heiress right?'_

'_Bless you.' _Naruto thought as he heard his tenant sneeze.

"**Thank you. How odd. There isn't even dust in here. Why would I sneeze?"**

'_Maybe someone was thinking about you?' _

"With all due respect Hokage-sama," Sasuke grunted as he shifted his legs. His Uchiha pride would not allow him to cradle his package in public "I believe that these D-ranks are not helping us improve as Shinobi I would request we receive a better mission as Naruto has told me that you already know of our true level of skill."

The Hokage of Konoha just chuckled. He had expected this weeks earlier and from Naruto rather than his stoic teammate. "Very well, I had expected this earlier to be honest. Here is a C-ranked mission to escort a client to the wave and guard him until the completion of the bridge he is building. It should take about a month, come in Tazuna-san."

When the client came in Team Seven felt very underwhelmed while they didn't expect to be guarding a prince or princess for their first C-rank, they expected something better than an old man who reeked of sake.

"What? These brats are going to be protecting me?"

"Yes Team Seven will be escorting Tazuna the bridge builder to the Land of Waves where his next bridge is to be built and will stay for the duration to protect him and the bridge from any bandits or highwaymen that may interfere with that."

"They look like they just got out of preschool and can't even protect themselves, specially the short one!" Tazuna said as his eyes landed on Naruto.

"Dammit I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet!" Naruto yelled as he lunged at the client only to be restrained by Sakura who put her arm around his neck and droving a fist into his head.

"I'm sorry sir but please ignore the knuckle head here. Even if we aren't strong enough our sensei is one of the strongest Jonin in the village." Sakura said with an apologetic expression.

"Yes Team Seven will be escorting Tazuna the bridge builder to the Land of Waves where his next bridge is to be built and will stay for the duration to protect him and the bridge from any bandits or highwaymen that may interfere with that."

When Tazuna only grunted Kakashi turned to address his team. "Alright, go home and pack your things and be at the gate in three hours."

Tazuna could only blink when all four ninja's disappeared in Shunshins.

-line break-

-three hours later;

"You know I'm really glad that I finally learned the Shunshin." Sakura said as she and her other two teammates arrived at the gate.

"Hn. But I don't see Kakashi-sensei around. Can you sense him Naruto?" Sasuke grunted as he looked around.

Naruto began extending his Mind's Eye of the Kagura "No he's not around." Naruto said with a frown.

"You know I had expected you to be more excited about more excited about our first C-ranked mission. I mean we spent the first weeks of our Shinobi career doing chores basically." Sakura said.

Naruto shrugged, "Meh I mean it was boring when the only thing we did all day was teamwork exercises but when we started actually training and Kakashi-sensei would beat the living crap out of us the D-ranks were actually a welcome break."

Sakura nodded. She was the one who always healed Naruto and Sasuke. It had actually helped her become very proficient in Medical Ninjutsu.

"So what do we do now?"

"We could play some cards." Sasuke said as he pulled out a deck.

"Sure why not."

-line break-

-another three hours later;

"He's still not here…" Growled Sakura as she held up her cards.

"And your surprised by that how?" Naruto asked staring down at a pair of cards.

"Hit me!" He barked at Sasuke who dealt him another card.

"That's 21. Damn Naruto remind me to take you to a casino to clear the place out, how many wins is that now?" Sasuke said

"42." Naruto replied blankly.

"You ever get the feeling that the universe is fucking with us?" asked Sakura with her face scrunched up in thought.

"No that's just Naruto. You'll get used to it after a while." Sasuke said without even batting an eyelash.

"I'm not that bad!" Naruto said with a whine.

Sasuke just STARED at Naruto.

"…"

"…"

"…'

Finally Naruto caved "ok maybe a little."

"Yes." Sasuke drawled with a perfect deadpan "maybe a _little_."

"So Sakura how's your Medical Ninjutsu coming along?" Naruto said trying to change the topic.

"It's coming along good, especially since I always have two willing volunteers in the mornings." Sakura said with a smile.

"It is convenient to have a medic to heal you when you go overboard for training. You know even though I don't like planning for it, me and Naruto are probably going to get hurt if we are in the front line. I wonder why no one has ever thought of having a medic for every team."

Meanwhile in some backwards city in the fire country a blond haired woman sitting at a slot machine sneezed violently causing the machine to hit three 7's. "Someone must be talking bad about me." She mused as she collected her winnings.

Back with our protagonist we find him with another winning hand.

"How many wins is that now?" Sakura said with a twitching eye.

"69 wins." Naruto said in a perfectly flat voice.

"How…"

"You get used to it after a while." Sasuke said with a shrug.

After another couple winning hands Kakashi arrived with their client.

"Sorry I'm late I had to find our client and make sure he was in decent enough condition for us to begin our mission." Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

Confused at the wide-eyed looks that he was given by his Genin he let out a flat "What?"

Sakura who was the first to recover answered. "Th-that was actually a valid excuse!"

Kakashi actually looked affronted at that. "What? I'm not that bad am I?"

"Yes you are." Sakura deadpanned

"Yeah you kind of are." Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted.

"INDEED MY ETERNAL RIVAL YOU ARE!" a voice echoed from cross the village.

"… That was weird." Kakashi said looking in the direction that the voice came from.

"So are we all ready to leave?"

Sakura nodded while hoisting up her backpack while Naruto and Sasuke both held up scrolls for the Kanji for 'Storage' on them.

"Ok I'll take the back. Sasuke, Sakura flank Tazuna. Naruto keep your senses extended and take point. Let's go."

-line break-

"Kakashi-sensei how long until we get to Wave?" Naruto asked bored out of his mind.

Looking at the position of the sun Kakashi said "We should get there before the end of the day."

Nodding Naruto kept focusing on his Eye's Mind of the Kagura until he felt two signatures on the road hiding in a puddle. '_Hmm both feel about Chunin level… me and Sasuke could easily take them… but we need to find out what their objective is…"_

After the group passed the puddle the two Demon Brothers rose up from the puddle. They immediately tried to wrap Kakashi in a chain but heard loud chirping before they could.

"Chidori!" was all Meizu heard before he felt an arm pierce his chest killing him instantly.

"Meizu!" Gozu cried seeing his brother instantly taken out. He tried to move to attack the one who killed his brother before he felt both of the tendons on his legs cut and he fell to the floor.

"Well… I had intended to see who their target was but I guess just taking them out works too." Gozu heard the Jonin say almost as though he was talking about the weather.

Hearing a sickening crunch, that Gozu assumed was the Black-haired one removing his arm from his brothers chest, he heard "Don't worry about that Kakashi-sensei, Naruto's got it. Sakura cut the muscles on his arms with your Chakra Scalpels and bring him over here."

Grunting in pain as he felt the ablity to move his arms leave him, he was put up against a tree were he came face to face with a red-haired child with their eyes closed.

When the kid opened them he saw a red eye with a four point star, marred by four red lines, surrounding the pupil and felt something entering his mind.

"Kotoamatsukami. (**Distinguished Heavenly Gods)"**

**-**line break-

"So what did you find Naruto?" Kakashi asked his student when he saw Gozu go glassy eyed.

"They were after you Tazuna-san. Anything you want to tell us?" Naruto said turning a glare onto the bridge builder.

"Wait! Why do you think they were after me?" Tazuna said panicking.

Naruto frowned. Their client was deciding to be difficult. "I just went into his guys mind," Naruto said pointing at the comatose Gozu "he, his brother and some guy called Zabuza are after your life. This is a B, if not A ranked mission. Now explain or we kill you and go home."

Sakura shivered seeing the cold look in Naruto's eyes. If anything it looked magnified by his Sharingan.

"Ok ok I'll explain but you have to help me." Tazuna said "Wave is under the tyrannical hold of a businessman named Gato-" Kakashi decided to cut in at this point.

"Wait… Gato? Of Gato Shipping and Transport, THAT Gato?!" Kakashi said with wide eye. Gato was one of the richest people in the world and from the rumors a pretty vicious person to deal with.

Tazuna scoffed "Yeah that's him, the little troll. The bastard may look like a legitimate businessman but on the inside he's a cruel criminal and dictator that controls what he has through force and money. He has a choke hold on my entire country, bleeding us dry of all of our hard earned money, leaving us with little but poverty." He sighed "This Bridge I'm building is going to connect us to the mainland and break Gato's hold over our country. He knows this and will stop at nothing to kill me." He turned a pleading eye at Kakashi. "Please I know I lied but you can't leave me or my country to this fate, I know I can't pay for it now but as soon as our country is liberated we can easily make the money to pay for this, we'll even pay double or tripple the amount. Just...please, all we want is to be free from this accursed bastard."

Kakashi stared at the pleading look on Tazuna's face, thinking about what to do, finally he nodded to himself and turned to his students. "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. This descion is up to you. Do we stay with the mission or go back to the village?"

"Let's do the mission! We can't let that asshole keep his hold over that country!" Naruto yelled his cold demeanor melting like snow on a hot summer day.

Sasuke grunted in agreement "Yeah as long as you can take this Zabuza guy we should be fine. Besides I've wanted to test the Chidori in a real life situation for a while now." Sasuke finished with a smirk.

"I agree as well. We haven't been training this past month for nothing." Sakura said with a smile.

"Speaking of which," Naruto interrupted "what do we do with this guy and his brother."

Kakashi closed his eye in thought for a few seconds. "I'll cut off the head of Meizu and put it in a storage scroll… Sasuke, you just got your first kill. Are you ok?"

Sasuke blinked as if he just realized that himself. "Yeah I'm fine…"

"Alright I'll cut off Meizu's head and get Gozu's too. Just give me a minute to seal them…"

-line break-

Team Seven traveled for a few hours. Eventually they reached the shores of the Fire Country. A small boat was docked with a single man at the oars.

"Tazuna." The man greeted them.

"Thank's again for this." Tazuna bowed to the oarsman.

"No problem, just hurry up, I want to get there as quickly and quietly as possible."

After Team Seven and Tazuna got into the boat the oar-man departed. About thirty minutes later they arrived at an abandon building where they docked and bid farewell to the oar man.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto said with a frown.

"How strong are they and how long until we run into them…" Kakashi said slipping his Icha-Icha back into his pouch.

"One is high-Jonin level… the other is high to mid Chunin." Naruto said signaling his team mates to get ready,

After a few more minutes of walking Naruto created chain with a kunai at the end and threw it into a bush. "Guys!"

When the chain retracted it revealed a bunny impaled by a kunai. Sasuke and Sakura let themselves relax for a moment before they remembered that Naruto was a sensor and immediately tensed.

"GET DOWN!" Kakashi yelled grabbing Tazuna and throwing both himself and Tazuna to the ground.

Seconds after Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura hit the ground a massive spinning blade passed over everyone and embedded itself into a tree. Nearly cutting the poor tree in half a man appeared on the handle.

"Well, well, well what do we have here? A bunch of green Genin out on a mission" The man chuckled darkly.

-line break-

**AN: Alright to tempt you guys into reviewing I will be directly answering questions you guys leave in the reviews (unless they contain spoilers) after my AN. Ok sorry this chapter took so long guys and honestly i think its rather... meh. If you guys like it that's great but i think i could have done better. With the whole thing about the Kyubi… well all I'll say is wait and see. The next chapter is the rest of the wave arc(maybe) and I'll try to get it out faster. One last thing is that as i was writting this chapter I realised i was going off on a tangent a little to much for my liking. So a rewrite will be coming out(I'll still continue this one but I'll be writing the new fic on the side) with the canon verse not being so different. Naruto will be geting the Sharingan in that fic but it will be a Kakashi style thing.**

**Legionary Prime: Yeh I actually had something like that planned.**

**Erasels: I'm trying to portray Hinata differently than the nice girl with no backbone, that everyone seems to portray her as. As for spamming chakra constructs I wanted to give him some limitation so he doesn't just bombard everything to hell but he will be using Jutsu's later, just not now ('When Naruto starts doing handseals run for the fckin hills' is the impression I want to give). He's had no one to help him but he was able to reverse-engineer the Shunshin, Kawarimi and Henge but now that he has Kakashi to help him…**

**DrunkenBunny: meh im going to start just making the names in English next to the Japanese translation the first time i use it in a chapter**


	7. Chapter 6: A Common Enemy

A Common Enemy

I own nothing. AN at bottem

_Last time on Dragon Bal- er I mean a Different Perspective_

"_GET DOWN!" Kakashi yelled grabbing Tazuna and throwing both himself and Tazuna to the ground._

_Seconds after Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura hit the ground a massive spinning blade passed over everyone and embedded itself into a tree. Nearly cutting the poor tree in half a man appeared on the handle._

"_Well, well, well what do we have here? A bunch of green Genin out on a mission" The man chuckled darkly._

-line break

"Momochi Zabuza. A-ranked missing-nin from Kirigakure. Known for his mastery of the silent killing technique. Your reputation precedes you Demon of the Mist." Kakashi said as he lifted his headband to reveal his Sharingan.

"And you yours Sharingan Kakashi." Zabuza said as he jumped down from the handle of his giant sword.

"What do you want Zabuza?" Kakashi demanded.

"I think you already know what I'm here for." Zabuza pointed at Tazuna who was busy making himself as small as possible under the Missing nin's cold glare. "Hand him over and we won't have any problems."

"I can't do that." Kakashi said stepping in front of the missing-nin to take the brunt of the killing intent.

Zabuza jumped back and landed on a lake. Weaving handseals he chuckled "I was hoping you'd say that. Suiton:Kirigakure no Jutsu** (Water Release: Hidden in the Mist Jutsu)". **A mist rose from the water and smothered the area, choking out all sight.

"Be careful you three, Zabuza is a master of silent killing, he doesn't need to see you to kill you in this mist. Be prepared for anything and keep your senses focused

"Oho, so you do have some experience fighting blind eh Kakashi?" Zabuza's voice echoed around them. "Eight points. Larynx, Spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidney's, heart. Hmhmhmhm which one shall I attac-

Naruto interrupted with an oddly curious look on his face "How are you going to hit any of those with that big ass sword of yours? I mean can you really do anything besides just chop our heads off or slice us in half?"

"Hn. I doubt it. If he really _was_ a master of silent killing then he would use like a knife or something."

"Maybe he's over compensating for something." Naruto's pink haired team mate replied.

Kakashi sweat dropped and he had the feeling that in the mist one of Zabuza's non-existent eyebrows was twitching "You know Kakashi I think I'm going to kill your Genin first."

"You know, if I was anyone else I couldn't blame you. But since I'm their sensei…" Kakashi trailed off as he went through three handseals and gripped his left hand with his right creating a Raikiri**(Lightning Cutter)** in his left hand and drew a kunai in his right hand. Kakashi swung his Raikiri in a seemingly random direction and sparks flew as Zabuza blocked it with the flat of his blade.

Eyes wide as the Raikiri began tunneling though his sword Zabuza jumped back into the mist.

"How…"

"It's quiet simple really. This mist might block out my sight. It might muffle my hearing, but it doesn't block out a certain other sense." Kakashi said as he charged into the mist.

Blocking Kakashi's Raikiri with his Kubokiribocho **(Decapitating Carving Knife) **and grunting as it carved another gash into his sword Zabuza realized he might be out of his league. While Zabuza and Kakashi might have both been A-ranked in the Bingo book Kakashi had spent the last month training with his Genin who combined could probably take down a most Jonin. This caused Kakashi to return to the S-rank threat he was during his time as ANBU captain.

Retreating Zabuza dispelled the mist. At this point it was only draining his Chakra. As the mist cleared around Kakashi's Genin it revealed a fifth figure bound in the arms of one of the Genin. Zabuza paled as his eyes beheld the bound form of Haku.

-line break

-before Kakashi charged off after Zabuza;

Naruto stiffened as his Mind's Eye of the Kagura picked up another signature in the trees watching Zabuza and Kakashi fight. He wasn't sure whose side they were on but it was better safe than sorry.

"Guys." Naruto began in a low voice "There is a signature in the trees. I'm going to go neutralize it. Sakura put up a Genjutsu over us so that they don't just attack the client. Sasuke if you hear fighting come and help me."

Nodding slightly to tell him that they got his message Sakura moved her hands to the side and created a low level cloaking Genjutsu that surrounded herself Sasuke and Tazuna. Creating a shadow clone in the foliage he kawarimi'd **(Body replacement) **with it and began sneaking behind the signature…

-line break-

Behind her mask Haku was sweating nervously. Her master had assured her that it would be simple. Just cut off Kakashi's head while his Sharingan was neutralized and then take out the bridge builder. The Genin would probably run scared after their sensei died. But while no plan survives contact, this plan went pear shaped instantly. Kakashi was easily beating Zabuza and their target had disappeared along with the Genin team. Chances are that when they saw how their sensei was beating Zabuza handedly they decided to just go ahead and let their sensei catch up.

Haku was so caught up that she didn't notice someone sneaking up behind her. By the time she did notice said person had already slapped something on her back. Jumping away from her attacker she noted that the person had a somewhat feminine face with spikey bright red hair and odd red eyes. Suddenly feeling her Chakra leave her Haku slumped to the ground…

-line break-

Naruto let out a sigh as the hunter-nin stopped moving. The seal he had put on their back was actually two seals interwoven with each other. The first was a seal that completely suppressed someone's Chakra and the second seal was a chaining seal. Basically what it did was if the person with the seal on them got a certain distance away from the sealer, then they would fall unconscious. It also doubled as a tracking seal. Creating some Chakra chains he began to tie the unconscious nin up…

-line break-

-back to the present;

Zabuza cursed in his mind. He was getting his ass kicked. His backup got caught and there was zero chance of Gato sending any backup. His pride demanded him to fight to the death _'but if I did that they would just kill Haku… Damnit' _He was willing to fight to the death but he didn't want to risk his surrogate daughter's life.

"Kakashi I surrender." Zabuza said throwing his blade to the ground and holding his hands up. Kakashi seemed surprised until he saw his team with a captive. Nodding Kakashi took Zabuza's blade and bound him with Ninja-wire.

As Kakashi and the now-bound Zabuza walked over to their group Kakashi raised an eyebrow as if to ask who their captive was.

"I don't know" Naruto shrugged "But I sensed her hiding in the forest."

"Wait." Zabuza said glaring at Naruto. "Haku binds her chest… how did you know that she was a girl?"

Naruto turned cheeks turned red for a moment. "Well I had to tie her up…"

"Brat if I wasn't tied up I would kill you right now." Zabuza growled.

"Wait wouldn't you be trying to kill us anyway if you weren't tied up?" Sakura asked with a finger on her chin.

Zabuza stopped glaring at Naruto for a moment and blinked before glaring at him again. "Yes but I would make his death especially painful."

'_Zabuza's been with us for all of fifteen minutes and Naruto has already pulled Zabuza into his loop.'_

Shaking his head Kakashi turned to Tazuna as he lowered his headband "Tazuna-san how long until we get to your home?"

"Uh it's about ten minutes from here." Tazuna said pointing in the direction of his house.

Nodding Kakashi began to lead Zabuza to Tazuna's house while his Genin followed him.

-line break-

-Gato's hideout;

"DAMNIT!" Was the angry cry of a certain midget.

"That fool Zabuza and his lapdog got themselves caught. God dammit all. Now I'm going to have to hire him…" Sighing and rubbing his forehead Gato took out a cigar and lite it.

It was going to be perfect. Zabuza would fight the team and tired himself out. After he returned from killing the bridge builder Gato would have his bandits kill Zabuza and take the bounty on his head. He never planned to pay the missing nin anyway. Now Zabuza and his dog were caught and would probably choose to protect the bridge builder so that they wouldn't get killed.

"I don't like calling him cause he charges a fucking arm and a leg…" Gato said as he got out a notepad and wrote down some things on a piece of paper before he gave it to one of his runners, who immediately left.

"… but at least he gets his shit done."

-line break

-later at Tazuna's house;

"So are you guys just going to leave us tied up here until after you finish your mission?" Zabuza asked as he and Haku were tied up and on the floor while Tazuna, his family and Team Seven were eating dinner.

"… actually yeah that was the plan." Answered a masked Kakashi who had already finished his meal and had out his Icha Icha, ignoring the glare Tsunami was giving him.

"Can we at least get some food?" Zabuza was starving. His pride had already died from starvation.

"I call feeding the girl! One of you guys can feed muscle head." Naruto said as he grabbed a plate and moved over to the unconscious girl.

When Sakura got up and began to leave everyone looked at her "What? He said one of you _guys_ feed him. As far as I'm concerned that means I can leave." When she shrugged and left, Sasuke also got up to leave.

"I've got to… uh… go uh… brood. Yeah that's right. Killing Itachi, avenging my clan and all that jazz."

Seeing Sasuke disappear in a Shunshin Tazuna and Kakashi turned glares upon each other. (Inari had snuck off as soon as he finished his food.)

Walking over to the unconscious girl Naruto put the plate of food to the side. Putting his hand on her back where the seal was he allowed some of her Chakra to flow back into her.

Eye's opening with a start the girl's first reaction was to flip whoever had their hand on her back but couldn't because she was completely bound by ninja-wire Looking up she saw the face of her captor.

"Hey there. My name's Uchiha Uzumaki Naruto. What's yours?" Naruto said with a grin.

"Haku…" The girl said still somewhat groggy due to her Chakra still being restricted. "Where are we."

"Well… we are in the bridge builders house." Naruto jerked his thumb over to where an eye twitching Zabuza was being fed by an equally eye twitching Kakashi "Zabuza is over there being fed by sensei."

Suddenly it all came rushing back to her. The failed ambush and being knocked out by the person in front of her.

Seeing Haku's eyes widening for a moment before narrowing Naruto just held up his hands to try to placate her. "Hey now you're the ones who attacked us. Once the bridge is finished and our mission is done you guys are free to be on your way but until then we have to make sure you don't kill the bridge builder."

Finished with his explanation Naruto took the plate and spoon to his side and began to feed Haku. At first she refused but eventually gave in because of how hungry she was.

After feeding Haku, Naruto sensed that Sasuke was on the roof and went outside.

Landing on the roof of Tazuna's house he saw his duck-haired brother vacantly staring into the distance. Walking over to him Naruto just stood beside him.

After a few minutes of silence Naruto decided to break the ice. "So what's bothering you?"

At first Sasuke just continued to stare into the distance and Naruto thought that he wouldn't answer. Eventually though "It's just earlier today… my first kill."

"I never knew you to be one who would be squeamish about something like that." Naruto said with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not that I feel bad about it… it's because I don't feel bad about it. I never really stopped to think about it because I had been focused on guarding Tazuna all day but now that I have my first kill… it was just something. I think I'm supposed to feel bad but I don't. Even when I saw the look of hopelessness as Meizu died I felt a little bad but other than that? Nothing?"

Sighing Naruto ran a hand through his bright red hair "I don't know… I'm don't even know what that would feel like yet… I mean I hadn't had my first kill yet… but when I do I'd like it to be for someone I care about… I'd try to try some other things first… but if that doesn't help then no I wouldn't feel bad… "

"I think… I think as long as when you kill someone it's to protect… then its ok…"

A few more minutes passed in silence before Sasuke just shook his head and chuckled.

"You know… you really suck at speeches."

"Hey I'm trying to help you out here! I don't need your turning into some brooding emo!" Naruto said mildly insulted.

"I would say if I turned into a brooding emo you would become a loud-mouthed retard but that's already true isn't it?"

"HEY!"

Sasuke patted Naruto on the shoulder as he went inside "Never change Naruto. Never change."

"What's with him?"

-line break-

-the next day;

"What's with him?" Haku asked seeing their captor looking over some weird design on a piece of paper and muttering.

"Probably trying to find some way to make sure we behave…" Zabuza said as he and Haku were bound by glowing blue chains coming from the red-heads back.

Grumbling Naruto crumpled up the piece of paper "Damn straight I am. We can't just watch you guys all day so I'm trying to find some way to stop you from trying to kill us. At this point I haven't got much besides a kill-switch if any of us die."

Zabuza just shook his head "I don't understand why you guys didn't just kill us."

"Do you want us to kill you?"

"No but it would be more convenient for you guys."

Naruto shook his head as he picked up another piece of paper "That's not a good reason to kill someone. Even if you two are willing to work for a scum-bag like Gato I assume you have your reasons."

A few more moments passed in silence.

"Why are you two working for Gato anyway?" Naruto finally asked

"What's it to you?" Zabuza grunted

"Just wondering. Even though Haku-chan hasn't stopped glaring at me you two seem like decent people." Sure enough the ice maiden had yet to stop glaring at him since they woke up today.

Eventually Zabuza decided to give an answer "…I want to fund a rebellion in Kiri."

Of all the possible reactions from the Red-haired boy who was keeping them chained up what he didn't expect a nod of understanding.

"That's good… well after this I wish you luck in killing that monster. He gives people like us a bad reputation."

'_Killing that monster… he must mean Yagura… wait… people like us… that red hair… he couldn't be…'_

"Are… are you?" Zabuza hesitantly asked.

Naruto only nodded slightly.

"Zabuza-sama… what do you mean?" Haku finally spoke up and asked.

Almost as if to ask his permission Zabuza looked at Naruto. Receiving another slight nod in response Zabuza turned to Haku.

"Haku… you know about the man we are trying to kill. Yagura the Yondaime Mizukage… and the Jinchuriki of the Sanbi no Kyodaigame **(Three-tailed Great Turtle)**… well about twelve years ago the Kyubi no Yoko **(Nine-tailed Demon Fox)** attacked Konoha. It was said to have been defeated by the Yondaime Hokage at the cost of his life… but the Yondaime was a seal master…"

Connecting the dots in her head Haku's eyes widened. The Yondaime Hokage had sealed the Kyubi no Yoko into a new Jinchuriki. Yagura was also a Jinchuriki and the boy, Naruto had said that Yagura was giving people like them a bad reputation…

"You're the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Yoko…" Haku whispered with wide eyes.

The rest of the day was spent in an uncomfortable silence.

-line break-

-a week later;

"Alright my cute little Genin we need to do something about Gato." Kakashi said suddenly after everyone had finished eating.

Sakura voiced the other two Genin's confusion "What do you mean Kakashi-sensei?"

"It means what it sounds like Sakura-chan. In order to make sure the bridge is safe we have to take out Gato himself. If we don't then Gato might just wait until we leave and then use his thugs to take control of the bridge. This isn't a problem we can deal with by just cutting off some branches. We have to go for the roots." Naruto explained.

The rest of Team Sevens response was to just stare at him.

"What!? I can be smart sometimes too!"

"… anyway… you're right Naruto. That's why I want all of you to try to find out where Gato is th-"Kakashi began to say before he was interrupted by Zabuza.

"I can tell you where he is."

Four heads turned to look at the bound swordsman. "Why would you do that?" Sasuke asked.

"To save some of your time. Think of it as a thank you for letting us live."

"Alright… well where is he?" Kakashi asked, still on guard.

Zabuza grunted and shifted in his chains a little. "The little rat's probably holed up in his hideout. Haku and I had to go there when we first received the job. I can take you there."

Sasuke just narrowed his eyes. "What's to stop you from just betraying us?"

"Only one of you needs to go. The rest of you can guard Haku and my Kubikiribocho (**Decapitating Carving Knife)**. If you haven't noticed I do care for them."

Kakashi pondered this for a few moments.

"Alright… Naruto. You go with Zabuza tomorrow to the hideout. When you get there create some shadow clones and have them infiltrate the place. If you see the opportunity to capture Gato without killing him take it but until then just scout for information."

-line break-

-the next day after everyone has left;

The Naruto-clone was bored. His creator had created him to maintain the chains on Haku and so the proximity seal wouldn't go off but it was so boring.

"Why are you glaring at me, I'm just a clone?" The clone asked

"Well… your original did capture me and my master… also you've kept me chained here for a week." Haku said glare still holding firm.

"Ok one you guys attacked us first and two why do you call him your master?"

"Because I am his tool for him to accomplish his ambitions."

The Naruto-clone just stared at her for a few minutes, Sharingan eyes seeming to bore into her soul. Eventually he just shook his head and turned away.

"I feel you disapprove of how I see myself." Haku said with a raised eyebrow.

"It's just… how can you see yourself like that?" the clone asked with an odd look on his face.

"What happened to make you put so little value in yourself?"

"… When I was little I lived in a small village that had just been the battlefield of a small war." Haku began. For some reason she felt a need to justify herself to this boy." After the war ended, memories of the horrific battles still lingered in the minds of the people. Those with bloodlines quickly became feared and hated for their abilities, out of concern that their existence would only bring more war."

"My parents were simple farmers, but my mother had the Ice release blood line. She hid it from my father in hopes that our little family would never be torn apart… but it wasn't meant to be." At this point Haku's eyes began to water.

"One day I discovered my bloodline. My mother immediately reprimanded me but it was too late. My father had already seen it. He gathered a mob and killed my mother. He was about to kill me but my bloodline manifested and killed him and the mob…"

When the girl began crying Naruto wasn't sure what to do. While he was more socially adept then his orange wearing canon counterpart he still wasn't much better. So he decided to just fall back on what Mikoto would do for him when he cried.

Putting an arm round the crying girl Naruto dispelled the chains, pulled her to his chest and began rubbing her back

-line break-

-with Zabuza and Naruto;

"How much longer until we get there?" Naruto asked from behind Zabuza the chain wrapped around the Kiri swordsman coming from his back.

"We are almost there, just a few more minutes."

Sure enough after a few more minutes of walking they came upon a fairly large warehouse.

"Alright." Naruto said making a cross sign with his fingers. "Kage Bunshin"

Creating thirty clones who all immediately transformed into small bugs and rodents and headed into the warehouse Naruto and Zabuza began to make their way back to Tazuna's house.

Travelling in silence for a couple minutes Zabuza and Naruto began to get bored and decided to talk a little bit.

"So… what's it like being a Jinchuriki?"

Naruto stopped for a moment before he began walking again.

"I don't know… I mean I'm not your average Jinchuriki… I had a family and my Biju's not all that bad… but I still had to deal with the hatred from the villagers… if it wasn't for my adopted family I might have gone insane."

Zabuza seemed to be deep in thought as he walked. "Brat… if you did go insane… not that I think you are but if you did… would it be a gradual process or would you suddenly one day snap."

Naruto turned and looked at Zabuza oddly "I don't know… why is that what happened with Yagura?"

"Yeah… Yagura was a nice guy before the bloodline purges… he used to be my teammate and would always talk about making his village love him and finally accept him… and then finally the day came when he was selected to be the Mizukage. The man cried tears of joy." Zabuza said with nostalgia

"But then… one day everything changed. He suddenly became a shut in and ordered the bloodline purges. I had heard that there was a coup being planned and I decided to join. Since he was my old team mate I figured it was my responsibility you know? But when I finally got to his office…"

"What? What happened?" Naruto asked enraptured by the story.

"He… was just sitting there… with a blank look on his face… it looked almost like he was in a Genjutsu… but if he was in one the Sanbi would have broken him free… but it still looked like he was in a Genjutsu…"

The Kyubi who had been listening from inside the seal began to connect the dots. _**'A Jinchuriki working with his Tailed Beast can't be put into a Genjutsu… unless... the Tailed Beast was also in a Genjutsu… and the only thing that can put a Tailed Beast in a Genjutsu…'**_

Naruto, unknowing of the musings of his Tailed Beast, wanted to know how Zabuza's tale ended. "Then why didn't you kill him and end the purges?"

"Like I said… Yagura was just sitting there… but I was driven off by one of the other Seven Swordsman… Kisame." Zabuza growled.

"**Naruto… ask Zabuza if there was a man with a mask with one-eyehole there."**

"Zabuza… the Kyubi wanted me to ask you if there was a man with a one-eyed mask there." Naruto said unsure of what his tenant was asking.

Zabuza scrunched up his eyes almost as if to try to remember before his eyes opened wide. "There was! Why? What does it mean!"

"Hold on! Hold on!" Naruto said waving his hands as Zabuza got up in his face. "Let me ask Kyubi."

'_Kyubi what's going on? Who's the man in the mask?'_

"… **He is the one who killed your mother and made me attack Konoha."**

Naruto's eyes widened for a moment before his face became uncharacteristically calm.

'_What does that have to do with Yagura?'_

"**A Jinchuriki working together with his Tailed Beast can't be put under a Genjutsu. The reason for this is because if the Jinchuriki falls under a Genjutsu then the Tailed Beast can just disrupt its Jinchuriki's Chakra and release the Genjutsu. The only way for a Jinchuriki to fall under a Genjutsu is for both the Jinchuriki and the Tailed Beast to fall under the Genjutsu. And the only thing that can put a Biju under a Genjutsu…"**

'_Is the Sharingan.' _Naruto concluded

Returning from his mental conversation Naruto saw Zabuza looking at him expectantly.

Closing his eyes and taking a moment to gather his thoughts Naruto began to put together what to tell Zabuza.

First in order to put a Jinchuriki under a Genjutsu the Tailed Beast also has to be put into a Genjutsu

Second the only thing that can put a Tailed Beast under a Genjutsu is the Sharingan

Third the masked man was also the one who caused the Kyubi attack and killed his parents

Opening eyes Naruto took a deep breath.

"Alright Zabuza I'm going to ask you to let me get through my full explanation before I answer your questions. Is that ok?"

When he received a nod from Zabuza, Naruto held up three fingers and began ticking them off.

"First while it's true that a Jinchuriki working with their Tailed Beast can't be put under a Genjutsu, if the Biju is put under a Genjutsu then the Jinchuriki becomes vulnerable. However that brings me to my second point. The only thing that can put a Tailed Beast in a Genjutsu is the Sharingan, like mine. Third and finally, the masked man I asked you about… he was also the person behind the Kyubi attack… and the one that killed my parents." Naruto finished with his Sharingan spinning in anger.

"… So you think this masked person is the one who caused Yagura to suddenly change?" Zabuza asked

Naruto nodded. "Yeah… So what are you going to do now?"

Zabuza stayed silent for a few moments "What are you going to do. You said this guy killed your mom and dad. Even if you are pretty damned nice compared to most Shinobi, I don't think anyone would let that go."

"Your right" Naruto nodded Sharingan still spinning "However when he attacked Konoha he was after the Kyubi. Since I have the Kyubi, that means he will eventually come for me. And when he does I'll be ready."

"You never answered my question. What are you going to do now?" Naruto said as he and Zabuza finally returned to Tazuna's house.

"I think… I think after this I'll stick with you. If this guy is going to be coming for you, I want to get my chunk of flesh for what the bastard did to my team mate and my village. Do you think you could get me or Haku into Konoha?"

Naruto nodded "I should be able to. As the last of the Uzumaki clan I'm technically the head. I can put you two under the protection of my clan. I just have to confirm it with Kakashi-sensei."

"Well… since we are on the same side now can you get these chains off me?"

-line break-

-Later after dinner at Tazuna's house;

"So why is the big man who tried to kill us free now?" Sakura asked somewhat scared of Zabuza who was sitting on the couch polishing his sword.

"He was befriended by Naruto." Sasuke said as if it was perfectly normal.

Kakashi actually stopped reading his Icha Icha and looked up at that. "…What…"

"It actually happens a lot with him. After he fights with someone they become his friend. Hell I didn't like Naruto when he was first adopted but after we fought we began to bond pretty well."

Naruto who hadn't been paying much attention turned to Sasuke with teary puppy dog eyes "You didn't like me?"

"Urk" Sasuke recoiled. While most men couldn't get away with the puppy dog eyes, Naruto's Bishonen looks let him get away with it quiet well. Oddly enough his Sharingan disappeared when he did it making his eyes look like a natural red pupil.

While Sasuke was assaulted by the puppy dog eyes of doom Sakura turned to Zabuza "So why are you not trying to kill us anymore?"

Zabuza grunted as he finished polishing his sword and leaned it against the wall. "Let's just say me and the brat found a common enemy. Where is Haku anyway?"

Naruto stopped assaulting Sasuke with his puppy dog eyes and turned to Zabuza "She fell asleep so my clone carried her to a room." He neglected to add how she cried herself to sleep clutching his clone.

Said (poor?) clone still hadn't dispelled while the sleeping girl cuddled him like a giant teddy bear.

"Wait why aren't you guys trying to kill each other anymore?" Tazuna, who had been silent up till now, finally said.

Kakashi, having already turned back to his Icha Icha answered. "Because it was never personal. It was just two groups of Shinobi doing their job that came into conflict. Since our jobs are no longer conflicting there is no point in fighting anymore."

Nodding Tazuna looked at his sake cup before shrugging and taking another chug.

-line break-

The next day everyone went off to do their own thing again. Kakashi watched the bridge builder. Sasuke went to go train. Sakura talked with Tsunami and Naruto hung out with Zabuza and Haku.

Granted when I say Zabuza and Haku I mean Zabuza while Haku blushed whenever Naruto looked in her general direction.

"So why did you kill all the graduates in your class?" Naruto asked.

"Mmm well you probably don't know this but Yagura and I were pretty good friends back in the day. On graduation day the whole class was basically pummeling him and I just lost control."

"How did you kill the entire class though?"

"Growing up on the streets taught me to be good at stealth. By the time they realized someone was picking them off I had already killed half of them."

"Damn… you must have been really good friends with Yagura." Naruto said

"Yeah… That's why I want to murder the guy who messed with his head." Zabuza growled as he clutched his Kubikiribocho.

"Hey Haku-chan why do you keep blushing? Are you sick or something?" Naruto said turning to the ice maiden who even now had a blush on her cheeks.

"Ah its nothing." Haku said waving her hand but her mind was saying something else completely _' I broke down crying in front of him. That's so embarrassing!'_

"Oh… well I just wanted to say thanks for sharing with me yesterday. I kind of understand where you're coming from." Naruto said with a compassionate smile.

At this Haku tilted her head. "What do you mean Naruto-san?"

"I mean… being hated for something out of your control… I understand what it feels like. In my home village people don't like me very much either."

"Because you're the Kyubi's Jinchuriki…"

"Yeah… I mean even though it's not really our fault the people just made us a scape goat so that they could have something to blame. Even though we aren't what they see us as, they still blame us for things we didn't do." Naruto said with a sad look on his face.

Haku couldn't help but smile slightly. _'I suppose I've found a kindred spirit…'_

After a few moments of silence Zabuza decided to ask a question that had been on his mind for the last three days "Why do you and that other kid always have your Sharingan active? That can't be good for your reserves."

Naruto's face darkened for a moment. "These aren't my eyes."

At this Zabuza raised a non-existent eye brow "What do you mean?"

"When I was little a… incident caused me to lose my eyes. These eyes are implanted from my dead brother." Naruto said fondly remembering Shisui.

"Wait… so you basically have to deal with the strain from two implanted Sharingan all the time? Damn how much Chakra do you have?"

Chuckling Naruto ruefully shook his head "Way too much."

"So what about the other kid? Are his implanted too?"

"No Sasuke's are natural… let's just say he's trying to unlock the next level."

"What do you mean?"

Chucking Naruto just tapped his nose.

-line break-

With Sasuke;

Sitting in front of a lake with his eyes closed Sasuke molded and fed Chakra to his Sharingan. He could feel it. He was so close. While he might not have the in human amounts of Chakra Naruto had, he had refined his Chakra control to a fine degree over the past few years. Sasuke's Chakra control was greater than most Medic-nins. While it was partially his way of keeping up with Naruto (If Naruto didn't use the Kyubi he could usually defeat his younger brother) it was also because his elements were the most dangerous to manipulate. Lightning if you couldn't control it you would shock yourself into oblivion. The same with Fire, if his control slipped he could burn his throat or even his stomach. Maybe if he had some way of creating flames outside his body and manipulating them…

Feeling something _shift _in his eyes Sasuke opened them and peered into his reflection in the lake.

He couldn't keep the smirk off his face when he saw two pupils with three red intersecting ellipses on a black background looking back at him.

-line break-

-with Sakura;

As Sakura was helping Tsunami around the house she idly began thinking about how much she had changed from her time at the academy. Where she was once a useless fan girl who had no real role on the team, besides being a dead weight, now she was the team medic, someone who was vital for a front line team like theirs and not too shabby at hand to hand. She no longer drooled over Sasuke and looking back at it Sakura realized how pointlessly shallow she was. The most ironic part was that she had been fan girling over a fake persona Sasuke had created so that the village wouldn't interfere in his and Naruto's growth. While there was still some lingering affection it was a side item whereas before it had been her whole reason for becoming a ninja in the first place.

Finishing the task Tsunami had asked her to do Sakura sat down on the couch and thought about the way she healed most people. Her Chakra control was better than almost any of the other medics in the hospital and because of that she had begun exploring a field, that as far as she knew, no other medic had done before.

Regeneration

Regeneration was an idea she had gotten while watching Naruto heal after one of his many three-way spars between himself, Kakashi and Saskue. Naruto would never scar and any damage would be healed with no trace left afterwords. While most Medical-Ninjutsu focused on using Chakra to directly repair the damage Regeneration would stimulate the cells and cause them to repair themselves. It was a more… complete healing than simple Medical-Ninjutsu. However likewise it would be many times easier to make a mistake. A single mistake would create a cancer and while she could heal that with her Medical Ninjutsu it would take even more Chakra. Chakra she didn't have.

Sakura was broken from her thoughts as Tsunami once again called for her.

-line break-

-with Kakashi;

Kakashi took a break from reading his Icha Icha to think about the mission. Due to the presence of Zabuza it would probably be bumped up to an A-rank mission even though he had joined their side later on. Thinking back on the fight with Zabuza, Kakashi felt some sense of relief that he had decided to take a more active role in training his Genin. What he had said before was true. He wasn't improving. He was just regaining what he had lost. The years out of ANBU had taken their toll on Kakashi and rather than the S-rank threat that ANBU Captain Inu**(Dog)** used to be he was only in the Bingo book as A-ranked Kakashi of the Sharingan. While S-rank and A-rank might only be one apart the difference was still very noticeable. Even in his prime Kakashi was only a lower-mid class S-rank rather than an upper S-rank like Uchiha Itachi. A S-rank could easily beat an A-rank which is why during the short time they had been fighting Kakashi had thrashed Zabuza even though his strength was only at lower S-rank at the time.

Looking at the progress of the bridge Kakashi idly noted that it would be finished in about two weeks or so.

'_The mission is going so well…' _Kakashi thought as he turned a page of his Icha Icha.

'_So why can't I get rid of this feeling of dread?'_

-line break-

The next week seemed to pass in a blur. Naruto's clones didn't report any suspicious activity from Gato's hideout and he became closer to Haku and Zabuza. Especially Haku as the two has the shared pain of being blamed for something they had no control over. Sasuke trained and began creating variants of the Chidori. Sakura helped out around the house and guarded Tsunami when she went shopping and Kakashi guarded Tazuna while he managed the construction of the bridge.

All throughout the week that feeling of dread refused to leave Kakashi and only seemed to grow stronger over time. Eventually Zabuza began feeling it too. The bridge was being built at a steady rate and everything seemed to be going well until one night…

"Why do you even try?" Came an angst saturated whine from Inari who everyone had been ignoring until now.

"Try what?" Naruto asked

"You know what I mean! Gato is just going to kill you all!" Inari yelled trying to make himself bigger.

Naruto chuckled for a few seconds before breaking out into full on laughter.

"What's so funny?" He demanded again, this time with a harsh edge to his voice.

"You are kid." Naruto laughed, wiping a single tear from his eye. Before Inari could try to bitch him out, Naruto cut him off. "Kid, telling us that we're going to die is like telling your gramps over there that he's going to get a hangover from drinking too much. The only difference is we don't know when we'll die while your gramps knows damn well when he'll get a hangover" He laughed again. "Kid, we're ninja, dying is a part of the job description. We are born and raised to fight, kill and die. For our friends and family."

Naruto's grin turned into a bit of a glare "However, thinking we'll die to some little troll like Gato is insulting. That bastard doesn't have anything going for him but his money, from what your gramps has told us the dude is as short as you are, he has NOTHING to fight us with himself, he hires his power."

"Then..." Inari began, suddenly feeling a bit out of his league in the argument.

"We have two A-rank Shinobi. There is nothing Gato could do. Even if he were to send an army we would destroy them. Me and my brother here could probably kill most of them by just looking them in the eye. Gato has NOTHING but some money and unless he hires some S-rank psychos there is nothing he can do to us."

Inari had a look of shock on his face at how blatantly his beliefs had been thrown in his face. He grit his teeth in anger at Naruto, mentally cursing the blonde bastard. "Who do you think you are? You have no right to come in here and talk that way to us, do you have any idea how badly we've suffered under that bastards rule? A ninja like you who probably has had it good all his life what do you know o-" Inari was shut up by a concentrated blast of killing intent.

"**Shut up." **An angry Naruto growled out at the boy, subconsciously channeling some of the Kyubi's Chakra.

"**Br**at…" Naruto said whiskers forming, fangs lengthening and a fox tail coming out from his pants "You come in here while we are just doing our jobs and begin bitching to us just because you lost someone you cared about. Do you want to know how many fucks I give? None. Zero. You pain means nothing to me. But that's not what makes me angry. What makes me angry is that you DARE belittle the pain we have been though. My parents died on the day I was born and then when I was adopted everyone except my brother, Sasuke was taken away again. I, who had not known love for the first three years of my life, was giving it before it was taken away. The worst part is that I KNOW that there are other people who have had worse lives then me just because their villages were greedy fucking bastards and wanted more power. But you are here just writing their pain off as nothing just because you were hurt a little. GROW up kid because if you don't then this world will eat you alive." Naruto walked over to the door before he turned around. "All of you stay away. I don't want to accidently hurt any of you."

Naruto left slamming the door shut. Silence passed for a few moments before the earth shook and the sound of things being destroyed broke the silence.

Tazuna who had dropped his Sake cup finally found his voice "Was… was that all true."

Kakashi signed as he tucked his Icha Icha back into his pocket. "Yes. Especially the last part… I can't give you too many details but that all has happened to Naruto. And those people he was walking about do exist. They are for a lack of a better term human weapons."

Getting up Kakashi began to move upstairs. "I would recommend not bothering him for a few days."

-line break-

The next day in a forest clearing;

Naruto woke up as rays of sunlight pierced the foliage and hit him in the face.

Rubbing his head Naruto groggily looked around. "Ugh what happened?"

"**The little brat ran his mouth off and you got really angry."**

'_Right… damned kid… talking about things he doesn't even understand.'_

"**That is one of the things I hate most about Humanity. Their ignorance and holier than thou attitude."**

'… _there are so many things you hate about humans.'_

"**Well there are so many things to hate."**

Shrugging off his tenant's sarcastic retort Naruto stretched and unconsciously spread out his Eye's Mind of the Kagura…

… before he sensed _them._

Eyes widening in panic Naruto took everything he could, in about the two monstrous signatures he felt heading to Gato's hideout.

One had an absolutely disgusting aura. It reeked of death and decay and had an unholy taint to it. The second aura was just as bad if not worse.

At first it felt like one massive aura but after focusing a bit more Naruto realized it wasn't one but rather five different aura's all in the same body. While it had the feeling of fire, wind, water, earth and lightning he was more focused on how old it felt. It felt easily a hundred or even two hundred years old.

Feeling them go into Gato's hide out Naruto tried to calm himself down. There was a chance that they weren't for hire. Maybe they just pissed off Gato and they were going to kill them. Yeah tha-

Receiving the memories from one of his shadow clones in the hideout Naruto sped towards Tazuna's house as fast as he could.

-line break-

-A few minutes ago in Gato's hideout;

Two figures made their way through Gato's hideout. Both were wearing black cloaks with red clouds. One was a man with a giant tri-bladed scythe on his back and slicked back sliver hair. The second was man whose face was mostly covered by a mask except his eyes which had pink sclera and green pupils.

Knocking on the door before entering the one with silver hair waited outside cursing vehemently for not being able to sacrifice anyone for his god while the other went into the office.

"Gato… it's been a while since you called for my services."

"Yes it has… Kakuzu."

**AN: Ok and done. Next chapter will be the end of the wave arc(maybe). I think I'm going to start doing what Marcus Galen Sands does and put the progress of my chapters up on my profile. Shout-out to Third-Fang's fic Yet Again With a Little Extra Help for helping me come up with Zabuza's history and AlphaDelta1001's fic Drifting for the idea of Kakuzu and Hidan getting involved in the wave arc. Also on one last note I will be having Naruto's eyes becoming only Rinnegan and a normal mode at some point in the story. After reading the recent Naruto chapters I have come to the conclusion that you can use the Mangekyou techniques with the Rinnegan but you have to naturally unlock it for you to beable to do so (Madara has his Rinnegan on but is spamming Susanoo.) Also on one last note I would like to apologies to my readers who had read the authors note at the end before I could edit it. I had lost sight of what I had planned for the end of this fic for a moment. For those of you that don't remember the poll, Rinnegan/Sharingan Naruto was a sad end with a crossover. For those of you concerned about pairings I don't think there will be any real pairings by the end. Maybe a girl will have his child but that will be about it because I don't think Naruto would be able to begin another relationship with a women if he had an 'unfinished' one in his home world. The only pairing I would be able to do would be femKyubi and Naruto(you won't be seeing femKyubi for another couple chapters and she will continue acting like how I have portrayed her for a good while.) but well… idk if I get enough reviews for that then I will do it but for now just assume that there is no pairing. No real questions in my reviews so yeh this is the end of the authors note.**

**Please Review and favorite!**


	8. Chapter 7: The Price of Victory

The Price of Victory

_Last time…_

_-a few minutes ago in Gato's hideout_

_Two figures made their way through Gato's hideout. Both were wearing black cloaks with red clouds. One was a man with a giant tri-bladed scythe on his back and slicked back sliver hair. The second was man whose face was mostly covered by a mask except his eyes which had pink sclera and green pupils._

_Knocking on the door before entering the one with silver hair waited outside cursing vehemently for not being able to sacrifice anyone for his god while the other went into the office._

"_Gato… it's been a while since you called for my services."_

"_Yes it has… Kakuzu."_

-0-0-

So Gato what job do you have for this this time and how much are you going to pay me." Kakuzu said with a gleam in his eye that told Gato he knew exactly why Gato didn't like to called him.

Gato grunted as he took his glasses off. "I want you to kill some people for me."

One of Kakazu's eyebrows raised "I'm guessing these aren't normal people. If they were you would just have your thugs take care of them."

"That's right. The thing is that they have some Genin and at least one A-rank Shinobi guarding them."

"I see… so the usual rates?"

Gato scowled before he nodded "One hundred million yen and you can keep the heads of the A-rank Shinobi. Also I want you to destroy the half built bridge after you kill the people. If you do that I'll add another fifty million yen."

Grinning behind his mask Kakazu left Gato's office after being told their location and the best time to strike.

His partner, who had been sitting outside turned to him and scowled. "So? Are we going to get the fuck out of here? You fucking made us come half way across the country and I didn't even get to kill any damned people on the way here."

Kakazu just turned a glare onto his partner "Shut your mouth. I had to deal with your bitching the whole time so I'd say we are even. We just got a job to kill some people. They apparently have some A-ranks I'll handle. Do you think you can handle some Genin?"

Hidan growled "Of course! They will all be sacrificed to Jashin-sama!"

"Good. We leave in four hours."

Neither of them noticed a small bug fly around the corner and dispel.

-0-0-

-back to the present;

Naruto ran through the forest as fast as he could. He had to get back. Those monsters would be attacking around dinner time. Every second was precious. Every second was one they could use to prepare. Bursting out of the foliage Naruto kicked down the door to Tazuna's house.

"Kakashi-sensei! Two really strong guys are headed this way!" Naruto said with a panicked look on his face.

Kakashi who had been surprised settled down a bit "Naruto calm down I'm sure they're not th-"

"Yes they are!" Naruto yelled stomping on the downed door "They both have huge Chakra reserves, bigger than yours. One of them had his head completely covered and was called Kakuzu the other was a dude with a massive red scythe called Hidan."

Zabuza narrowed his eyes. As a missing-nin he had made sure to remember all the names in the bingo book. Both of those were S-rank threats, but he had to confirm it. "Show me."

"Look at my eye all of you." Naruto said sending Chakra to his Sharingan. Showing everyone the memories of his clone in the form of a Genjutsu he saw everyone's face turn into a look of panic.

"What do we do Kakashi-sensei? There's no way we can beat both of those guys! Maybe one of them but definitely not both!" Sakura said panicking.

"Ok first calm down. We need a battle plan. They aren't going to be here for several hours." Kakashi said formulating a plan in his head.

"We should separate them. Kakazu is the bigger threat" Zabuza said "I made sure to memorize every name in the Bingo book. The man is almost one hundred years old and has the most experience. We need to take him out fast and quick. Set up an ambush. If we can't then we need to split them up. Kakashi and I will take Kakuzu while the rest of you, Haku and Kakashi's brats take Hidan. From what I could gather it looked like Kakuzu was the brains of the duo."

Kakashi nodded. "Naruto spend the next hour making as many explosive notes as you can. After that we will spread traps around the area. Tazuna-san do you and your family have somewhere you can hide?" Tazuna nodded "Ok go there. This is going to be a battlefield soon. While we are setting the traps I want one of Naruto's clones with their sensor spread as far out as they can so we can prepare. Once Kakuzu and his partner are close enough we will hide and Zabuza use your Kirigakure no Jutsu to shroud the area in mist. Try to take out Kakuzu first and if we can't then split them up. We can't risk them working together. From what I could tell Hidan was built like a Taijutsu fighter. If we can't take them out in one go then when we split up make sure to keep him at a distance. Everyone got it?" Receiving a round of nods everyone went off to do their jobs.

-0-0-

As Kakashi told him to Naruto spent the next hour making explosive tags. With the help of his clones he had finished making just over one hundred of them. Dispelling all of his clones but one, who had their Mind's Eye of the Kagura extended as far as it could Naruto and his team began trapping every place in the forest. Ninja-wire, explosive notes, kunai, shuriken Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura used almost all of their supplies to create escape routes so that they would be able to keep away from Hidan if they weren't able to take them out in their initial ambush. They were prepared but whether or not their preparations would be enough was the real question. When Naruto's clone felt Hidan and Kakuzu enter his range he dispelled so that the original would know. A storm was coming.

-0-0-

In the forests with Kakuzu and Hiden;

"What in the hell is taking so damned long? Are we there yet?"

"No. If you ask me that again I'll kill you."

At this Hidan scoffed "Ha as if a godless heathen like you could kill a devoted follower of Jashin like me."

"I do have a god." Kakazu grunted. "He is just green, fits in a suitcase and is actually _real_."

Hidan looked like he was about to have an aneurism. "WHAT WAS THAT YOU MOTHERFUCKING COCKSUCKER? HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT JASHIN-SAMA LIKE THAT!"

"Shut your mouth Hidan. You're going to tell everyone within a thirty yard radius that we are coming."

As they kept walking, mist began to surround them. "So? It doesn't matter if they know we are coming. I'll sacrifice them to Jashin-sama all the same."

"It will make it take longer. Time is money and I don't like wasting money."

"Fucking douchebag. And what's with all this god damned mist?" Hidan said waving his arm to try to clear it away.

"The place we are headed to is near a shore. This mist is… wait… mist…" Kakuzu's eyes narrowed as the sound of something cutting through the air come from his right.

Hardening his right arm with Doton: Domu **(Earth Release: Earth Spear) **he grunted as a massive blade crashed into his arm.

Hidan reached for his scythe before the ground underneath him exploded sending him tumbling away.

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at his attacker. "Zabuza… so the little rat sold us out."

"I could say the same." Zabuza said pushing against Kakazu's arm.

"You're still a fool to come here alone. I am an S-rank missing nin. You're only an A-rank. What makes you think you have a chance against me?" Kakuzu said pushing Zabuza back.

"Heh who said I was alone."

As the last word left Zabuza's mouth the sound of chirping birds surrounded Kakuzu…

""Chidori **(One Thousand Birds)**!""

…as he felt two of his heart being crushed as two arms emerged from his chest. Turning his head around he came face to face with two pairs of Sharingans.

Letting out a choked cough as the two arms were removed from his chest leaving two holes Kakazu fell to the ground.

"Shit!" Hidan cursed as he saw his partner fall down. Hearing that same chirping sound from before Kakazu had been killed he saw a masked-nin with silver hair with a hand wrapped in lightning lunge at him before he was able to jump away. However the trailing lightning nicked his throat, cutting it open and sending spasms throughout Hidan's body.

"Well… that was anti-climactic. Naruto said as he walked over to the convulsing Hidan.

Sasuke also walked over shaking his hand to get the blood off it. "Hn. That was the plan."

"Still, for S-rank opponents these guys were pretty disappointing." Haku said emerging from the forest.

Kakashi put a hand on his headband and was about to pull it down "Well not everything can be a battle of epic po-"

"Futon: Atsugai **(Wind Release: Pressure Damage)"**

Of the six Shinobi it was Naruto whom reacted the fastest. His eyes changed from the Sharingan to his Mangekyou as a golden aura spread from him and wrapped around the other five Shinobi just before the shock wave reached them. When the attack had passed it was revealed to be the ghostly torso of a skeleton with four arms and a head with a single horn, wrapped in a golden aura. All four of its arms had hands wrapped protectively around the other Shinobi shielding them from the Jutsu while Haku was with in the Susanoo's rib cage next to Naruto.

Sasuke took in how Naruto was in the center of the skeletons rib cage _'So this is what his Susanoo_** (He with the ability to help by all means)**_ looks like.'_

Kakashi let out a sigh of relief. That attack would have critically injured all of them if not killed them "Good job Naruto."

Naruto nodded protected by the ribs of the ghostly skeleton "Thanks Kakashi-sen-"

Suddenly Naruto covered his mouth his hand and began coughing up blood. Streaks of his bright red hair began to turn white. Falling to one knee Naruto began to pant as his Susanoo faded away.

'_Wha… What the hell?' _Naruto thought as his body began to feel cold.

"**Your body isn't accustomed to the strain of using the Susanoo so it began draining your life force in addition to your Chakra. While you will be able to train yourself in the future right now you need to rest. I'm sending you some of my Chakra and I'm releasing the Four Pillar Reverse Consumption Seal."**

Giving the equivalent of a mental nod Naruto let out a sigh of relief as a feeling of warmth filled him coming from his stomach.

The rest of their little group gathered around Naruto and watched in morbid interest as Kakuzu stood up with the holes in his chest being stitched up by black threads.

Running through some hand seals as her hands began to glow green Sakura put them on Naruto's back.

"Naruto… what was that? Are you ok?" Sakura said with concern in her voice.

Wiping the blood from his chin Naruto nodded. "Yeah… hah hah… just… give me a minute to rest."

Shaking his head Kakashi put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "No its fine. Just get your strength back. We already took one of them down and only got caught off guard by the other. We sho-"

"THAT FUCKING STUNG YOU GOD DAMNED PRICK!"

Everyone's (minus Kakuzu) eyes widened. The cut on Hidan's neck was a fatal wound, even more so due to the lightning coursing through his system.

"How…" whispered Kakashi as he watched Kakuzu send some threads from his sleeves that wrapped around Hidan and pulled the man towards him.

"Well maybe if you weren't such a retard you wouldn't have gotten hit." Kakuzu said almost as if he hadn't just had two lightning wrapped arms thrust through his chest.

"FUCK YOU KAKUZU!"

As Kakuzu channeled wind Chakra though Hidan's body and stitched up his throat he turned to Naruto's group.

Kakuzu cast off his cloak to reveal four masks stitched onto his back, two of which were crushed. He bent over as the masks began to bulge and eventually tore themselves from his back which immediately stitched itself back together.

The masks formed four beasts, each mask a different beast. The first had the shape of a demonic, beaked biped. The second had the shape of a demonic tiger but had its mask crushed. The third had the shape of some sort of deformed biped and also had its mask crushed. The last had the shape of a strange four legged body with thin wings.

The two beasts who's masks were crushed shivered and died. _'The brats got my lightning and fire hearts…' _Kakuzu mused.

"Wha… what the hell is that!?" Zabuza said with wide eyes.

"I… don't know… but I know I hit his heart…" Naruto panted glaring at the man who should be dead.

"What? I hit his heart too!" Sasuke said with wide eyes turning to look at Naruto

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and looked at the beasts that had died with broken masks _'Wait…'_ "Both of you are sure you hit a heart?"

When he received nods from both of his male students that confirmed his suspicion. "Then that means… it's not that one of you didn't hit his heart… it's just he has more than one heart."

"What do you mean Kakashi?" Zabuza grunted channeling more Chakra into the mist to make it thicken.

Kakashi motioned to the two downed masks "See those two broken masks? Those were the things that Naruto and Sasuke hit. They both said that they hit a heart so that must mean each mask has a heart in addition to Kakuzu's own."

When Kakuzu began gathering Chakra all three Sharingan users eyes widened. Naruto wasn't strong enough to block another one of those Jutsu's.

Zabuza and Kakashi both bursted forward followed by Haku and Sasuke while Sakura tried to heal Naruto.

-0-0-

-Zabuza and Haku vs Hidan

Zabuza was intercepted by Hidan who had a sick grin on his face. Swinging his sword at Hidan's head Zabuza grunted as it was blocked by the shaft of Hidan's scythe.

Hidan had a sick grin on his face as he was in a deadlock with Zabuza. "I look forward to sacrificing you to Jashin-sama."

Zabuza's response was to kick the insane man back and disappear into the mist again as several senbon flew out piercing Hidan's arm.

"FUCK!"

-0-0-

-Kakashi vs Kakuzu

Kakashi had formed a Raikiri **(Lightning Cutter) **and had interrupted Kakuzu's Jutsu. Dodging a compressed fireball that exploded with great force Kakashi brought a kunai to his other hand and cut the strings that Kakuzu launched at him.

As Kakashi engaged Kakuzu in Taijutsu he noted that he didn't see Kakuzu's thread beasts anywhere.

Ducking under an elbow strike Kakashi saw a flash of dark blue in the trees and two shadows chasing after it. _'So they are going after Sasuke… I'll have to end this fast.' _

Kicking Kakuzu back into a cluster of explosive notes that detonated Kakashi leapt after the two shadows.

When the smoke from the explosion cleared Kakuzu was revealed to be fine other than some minor burns. All of his visible skin had darkened to a black color.

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes_ 'If I hadn't hardened myself at the last moment I would have been killed… they trapped this place beforehand. They knew we were coming.'_

Taking a moment to dust himself off Kakuzu leapt off after Kakashi

-0-0-

-Sasuke vs Earth and Wind masks;

Sasuke jumped off the tree he was standing on as it was body slammed and toppled by Kakuzu's earth mask.

Seeing the wind mask begin to mold Chakra, Sasuke ran through hand seals ending on Tiger.

"Katon: Gokakyuu! **(Fire Release: Grand Fireball)" **blowing out a stream of fire as the wind mask shot a bullet of wind, Sasuke's fire Jutsu consumed the wind to increase its power.

The empowered fire Jutsu washed over the trees burning them to a crisp.

Sasuke watched as the smoke cleared to reveal the earth mask having defended the wind mask. The earth mask then lunged at the Uchiha. He idly noted that the creature's skin had become more solid looking.

'_Tch that thing is getting really annoying' _Sasuke thought as he began dodging the earth mask's attacks, his Sharingan letting him stay one step ahead of the odd creature.

'_If I use my lightning Jutsu's to try to take out this one, the other creature will use its wind attacks to stop me. If I try to use my fire Jutsu's to try to take the other one out this one shields it.' _The creatures were just working to well in tandem. Sasuke idly wondered if this was what Kakashi felt like when he spared with himself and Naruto

Sasuke heard a wind bullet coming from his right. Twisting his body to avoid the bullet of compressed air he wasn't fast enough to avoid the body check of the earth mask that smashed him though two trees.

As the smoke cleared, it revealed Sasuke to be relatively unharmed; surrounded by a ghostly rib cage wrapped in a purple aura.

Shakily standing up Sasuke dispelled his Susanoo and wiped the blood that had pooled in his eyes

'_Ugh… I only manifested the ribcage and it ate up almost half of my Chakra… no wonder Naruto looked so weak after manifesting the whole torso…' _glancing at the beast that had tackled him he saw that it looked dazed after hitting the diamond hard bones of Susanoo

Sasuke saw the wind mask fly out of the trees. Crossing his arms, he didn't have enough Chakra to form Susanoo again and he didn't have the time to dodge, as he saw it begin to build Chakra he didn't see Kakashi tear out of the trees and barrel into it shoving a Raikiri **(Lightning Cutter)** through the mask.

Leaping off the dying corpse of the air mask Kakashi landed in front of Sasuke in a defensive stance. He noted, due to his Sharingan's ability to see Chakra, how even though the boy had almost no physical wounds he was at just under a third of his Chakra.

"Sasuke are you ok?" Kakashi said narrowing his eyes as he saw Kakuzu also burst out of the foliage looking no worse for wear other than a few small burns.

Sasuke uncrossed his arms to see his sensei and the shattered remains of the wind mask. "Yeah… they kept covering each other's weaknesses so I couldn't get a chance to take either of them out." Looking at the missing nin from Taki he noticed that other than a few burn marks on his cloths Kakuzu didn't look too much worse for wear. "Did the trap not work?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No the trap worked. He just managed to harden his skin before it detonated. How are you doing?"

Narrowing his eyes at the earth mask that had rejoined Kakuzu Sasuke grunted "Hn. I'm almost out of Chakra. I had to use the same Jutsu Naruto used otherwise that beast thing would have caved my chest in. Since I don't have nearly as much Chakra as him I'm not much use other than a distraction right now."

'_I'm not doing too well myself either…' _Kakashi thought as he felt his Chakra levels drop dangerously low after that last Lightning Cutter. Even though his training had bumped Kakashi's Chakra levels up to the point where he could use it five times a day Kakashi had also had his Sharingan on the whole time and was sitting on about an eighth of his Chakra.

Kakuzu growled as he saw his wind mask crushed on the ground _'Normally I would switch to long range mode at this point… but I can't do that with only my earth heart… but then again both of these brats look like they are on their last legs…' _Closing his eyes Kakuzu considered his situation. Both of his opponents were on their last legs but he only had two hearts left, his earth and water hearts. He would have to close in and finish it with Taijutsu. Both of his opponents were lightning elements, able to pierce through his Doton: Domu **(Earth Release: Earth Spear) **and also possessed the Sharingan. At the same time Kakuzu had plenty of Chakra left and would be able focus on Kakashi while his mask distracted the Genin. However…

… in the end it came down to whom reinforcements would get here first. Hidan or the rest of their little group. There were power in numbers and if it became a two on three or a four on two, whoever had the least amount of people would lose.

Opening his eyes Kakuzu hardened his skin.

'_You better hurry the fuck up Hidan.'_

-0-0-

-Zabuza and Haku vs Hidan;

'_What in the fuck are you doing Kakuzu' _were Hidan's thoughts as he deflected another slash from Zabuza and jumped back to avoid getting stuck by more senbon.

Normally Hidan would be able to overpower Zabuza easily. That was the difference between an S-rank and a B-rank. However Hidan's entire body was numbed due to getting the side swipe of Kakashi's Lightning Cutter and even though Kakuzu had run wind Chakra though his body to counter it, Hidan was still having a little difficulty moving. Hidan had gotten multiple hits with his scythe and pike. Normally that would be enough to end the battle, but Zabuza and his little friend had kept up the attack constantly using hit and run tactics with the mist. Hidan hadn't even gotten a chance to ingest the blood on his tri bladed scythe or pike. Not to mention the innumerable amount of traps that were scattered around the battle field. That's why he was on the run (again). So he could perform his ritual.

'_Five seconds. That's all I need to end this. Just five Jashin cursed seconds.' _Jumping over to one of the many half-finished circle dotting the battle field, Hidan stomped his foot on the ground and finished drawing the circle before he had to duck to avoid getting decapitated. Lashing out with his scythe Hidan had to jump back as Zabuza jumped over his swing and descended with an overhead chop.

Hidan cursed as he saw the ground around his ritual circle once again being destroyed. Leaping over to another half-finished one he cursed again as he felt himself trip another trap and growled as he saw a barrage of shuriken and kunai headed towards him.

Gritting his teeth and charging though the storm of sharp weapons, ignoring the fact that his chest now looked more like minced meat rather than someone's torso, he landed at the half-finished blood circles, splayed his blood on the ground. Finishing the circle as he brought his scythe to his mouth he cursed as he had to duck to avoid getting blinded. Beginning of the first line of the triangle Hidan twirled his scythe to block a barrage of senbon. Hidan grinned as he was halfway through the second line of the triangle. If he finished one of his ritual circles all he would have to do was ingest the blood on his scythe and get back to the circle and he would win.

"Hyoton: Hissatsu Hyoso **(Ice Release: Certain Kill Ice Spears.)"**

Once again cursing Hidan jumped away as the ground around where he was standing was obliterated by a multitude of ice spears.

Zabuza and Haku both couldn't help but wince as their enemy landed in front of them. While Hidan seemed to have a regeneration factor, as minor wounds disappeared in seconds and major wounds in minutes, the multitude of wounds Hidan had were insane. His cloak had been completely shredded to the point where it just looked like some kind of odd cape and his pants were destroyed beneath his knees. There wasn't an inch of Hidan's body below his neck not covered in blood, his neck sporting multiple shallow, previously deep, cuts from where Zabuza had tried to decapitate him. Hidan's chest was, as previously mentioned was stuck with multiple shuriken and kunai still lodged in his chest cavity. While his chest was regenerating, the weapons being slowly pushed out, it still looked like something out of a horror movie. His left arm was, however oddly unharmed except for a few thin trails of blood from senbon wounds that had already healed. His right arm was another story all together. It had looked like some had taken a knife and skinned the flesh right off his arm and you could see some bone near his forearms. Hidan's shins were riddled with senbon, that were slowly being pushed out as the wounds healed and he had a massive cut that had sliced into the bone on his right thigh.

Haku and Zabuza were also sporting their fair share of wounds too though. Haku's hair had come lose and flowed down to her shoulders. She had no real wounds, due to her speed and her keeping a distance, other than a few cuts and a long gash on her left arm from when Hidan had just thrown his scythe at her.

Zabuza was in similar shape but he was in worse danger. In addition to the superficial smaller wounds he also had a deep stab wound in his lower left abdomen and a gash on his right shoulder that was bleeding badly.

Zabuza felt his control over the mist slip as it dissipated _'Damn it… I'm almost out of Chakra' _he thought as he slump to one knee.

As the mist began to clear an insane grin appeared on Hidan's face "That's right you fucking atheists! No more hide and go play pussy! Prepare to DIE!"

Haku's eyes widened as Hidan charged with his scythe positioned for an overhead swing. She was out of senbon and Chakra. Doing the only thing she could think of she moved in front of Zabuza to intercept the blow…

-0-0-

-Kakashi and Sasuke vs Kakuzu;

Sasuke ducked underneath a swipe and back flipped to avoid an overhead swipe. He reached into his pouch for some shuriken but came up with nothing. Grunting in frustration he landed on a tree branch and jumped off as the previously mentioned branch was crushed by a body slam from the earth mask.

As the earth mask got up and charged are Sasuke again he slipped underneath its legs and axe kicked it in the back, wincing as it felt like he had just kicked a chunk of iron. The mask turned around and wacked Sasuke through a tree.

'_That definitely broke some ribs…' _Sasuke thought as he saw the beast once again charge at him he tried to dodge but some threads shot out from the beast and wrapped around his throat and limbs

Momentarily distracted by his students peril Kakashi felt a heel make contact with his stomach and drive the air out of his body. Flying through the air before finally hitting the ground Kakashi saw Kakuzu standing above him with threads extended from his arms restraining Kakashi's arms and legs.

"And now your heart is mine." Kakuzu said before a group of threads barreled towards the skin above Kakashi's heart…

-0-0-

As Haku saw her death in the form of a tri-bladed scythe aimed for her face she thought about the last two week of her life. About the red-haired boy that she had come to know. While she had initially been cold to him, as one would be to their kidnapper, Haku had eventually been pulled into his loop and warmed up to the rather energetic boy. Over the next week as Haku had learned about the boys past and found a kindred soul in him, someone who understood what it meant to be seen as a scape goat for something that wasn't their fault. While she had still held her duty to her master first and foremost the boy had wormed his way into her heart with his cheerful smile and bright personality despite all he had gone through. As she sacrificed her life she was surprised that, while she was happy to be of use for her master, she was still sad that she had never got a chance to tell the boy how she felt.

-0-0-

Threads froze as Kakuzu felt a hand on his back…

"Get off my sensei"

-0-0-

Time froze as an oppressive feeling filled the area. The aura itself could only be described as primal. As Hidan swung his scythe this feeling was the only warning he had before something rammed into his back forcing him to the ground kicking up dust everywhere.

As the dust cleared Zabuza and Haku's eyes both widened. Standing over Hidan's body with one arm still extended towards the unmoving immortal Naruto stood wild bright red hair covering his eyes, whisker marks on his cheeks, fox tail swishing about and a cloak of energy surrounding him.

"Sorry I'm late…"

-0-0-

Kakuzu could only let out a choked gasp as he felt his heart stop. Turning his head around he was met with the angry green eyes of Sakura. "H-ho-how…"

Sakura merely pushed him over to the side to show her hand glowing with blue Chakra "Chakra scalpels. I saw how you could harden your skin earlier so rather than try to break though it I decided to just cut the arteries of your heart."

-0-0-

Naruto moved his head and his hair moved to reveal ice blue eyes with a miniature pupil and six concentric rings. "Haku-chan… Zabuza… you both look like shit." He said with a crooked grin.

Haku just walked forward in a daze before she hugged the bright red haired boy and buried her head in his chest.

"…Naruto-kun…"

Naruto looked at Zabuza, who just shrugged before he awkwardly put his arms around the girl clutching his chest. "It's alright… I'm here…"

Zabuza chuckled as he used his sword as a make shift crutch to stand up before his eyes widened and he dove forward…

-0-0-

Kakashi leapt into action as soon as he wasn't being restrained by Kakuzu's threads anymore. Grabbing Sakura he leapt away just the last of the mask beasts barreled into where they had been just moments before. As the thread beast was absorbed into Kakuzu's unmoving body Kakashi burst forward and picked up the gasping Sasuke before leaping into the trees…

-0-0-

Naruto and Haku could only let out a choked grasp as they both looked at the pike impaling their chests. Releasing a roar of primal rage Zabuza ripped his blade from the ground and swung with such force that it actually cracked Hidan's scythe as it sent him flying back. As Naruto and Haku both fell to the ground Zabuza charged Hidan with the fury of a maddened berserker pushing the fanatic back.

'_Kyubi…'_

"**Don't worry Naruto… I can heal a wound like this… but the girl…"**

Naruto weakly turned his head towards Haku who was also looking at him. Even as he felt blood pouring from his stomach he crawled over so that they were face to face.

"Haku-chan…" Naruto said with tears pooling in his eyes.

Haku just smiled even as blood dripped from her mouth "No… this is fine Naruto-kun… you will survive because of the Kyubi… as long as you are safe… it is ok…"

Naruto grit his teeth and clenched his fists. Someone he cared about was about to die and he couldn't do anything about it. For some reason it felt familiar and that just made him hate himself even more.

Raising a hand Haku cupped Naruto's cheek. "Naruto-kun… this last week… even when I was cold to you at first you wormed your way into my heart… then we became closer… I found out we both came from such similar pasts… kindred spirits… before you had come… and I saw Hidan about to kill me… I had only a single regret that I can now rectify." Looping her hand around his neck Naruto's eyes widened Haku pulled his lip down and met them with her own.

"I love you…" as the light left Haku's eyes Naruto didn't notice Sasuke and Sakura arriving beside him. He didn't notice the first ring of his Rinnegan flash. He didn't notice as they picked his and Haku's body up before leaving. He didn't notice Haku's blood in his mouth from the kiss.

All he knew was that once again someone had said that they loved him. And once again they were dead.

-0-0-

'_FUCK is this how it feels to fight me?' _Hidan thought as he dodged one of Zabuza's swings before getting kicked in the chest.

Zabuza knew nothing but rage, tears pouring down his cheeks. Haku was his daughter, the light in his life, what let him remain human. But now she was dead and he would be damned if he didn't at least take the fucker that killed her down to hell with him. He was a mess; multiple stab wounds dotted his body including one that pierced his right lung. He was bleeding out from a wound that opened his stomach. His right arm was gone and Hidan's pike was still impaled in his left kneecap. Even still he continued charging Hidan. This demon would claim one last victim before it died.

Hidan grunted as he tried to block another one of Zabuza's maddened swings but the force behind it smashed his scythe in two. Throwing away the bladeless shaft Hidan noticed that the bandages around Zabuza's mouth had been chewed threw and that his sharpened teeth were showing even as blood poured from his mouth.

'_This fucker is going to try to bite me to death even if I chop his damned head off!'_

Hidan tried leaping back to get some distance but Zabuza wasn't letting him get away. As Hidan left the ground Zabuza lunged forward and bit into Hidan's shin before throwing him onto the ground. Crushing Hidan beneath him with an earth rending heel stomp Zabuza began to carve out Hidan's chest. He wasn't aiming for vital points; he was aiming the mangle the fuck out of the freak so that he would never get up again. When Hidan's chest looked like hamburger meat Zabuza finally stopped and dropped to one knee.

Hearing Kakashi land near him Zabuza idly noted that Hidan had stopped moving… but it was better safe than sorry. Slapping an explosive tag on Hidan's face Zabuza slowly got up and walked over to Kakashi before it detonated, ending any chance of the insane Akatsuki member coming back.

Kakashi threw up a little in his mouth when he saw the state that Zabuza was in. No living creature had any right to still be alive with that many wounds.

Not knowing what to say Kakashi just helped Zabuza lie down and pulled the pike from his knee.

"Kakashi…" Zabuza choked out wanting to get his last words in before he died. "Give my sword to the brat… tell him to cut the fuckers head off when he finds him… he'll know what I'm talking about…"

The silver haired nin nodded as Zabuza's breath began to become more shallow.

"Also… I would like to be buried next to Haku… even if I won't be going to the same place she is… I would like to be near her one last time…"

Kakashi gave another nod as he picked up the Kubokiribocho and put it on his back before picking up Zabuza and disappearing in a Shunshin.

The sky itself seemed to cry as the day was finally over

-0-0-

Kakuzu stood in front of Hidan's ruined corpse as the rain slowly washed away the blood. The upper half of his body was just two arms connected to a few chunks of meat.

"I can't even turn your head in for your bounty." Kakuzu flatly noted as Hidan's head had been destroyed by Zabuza's explosive tag.

Picking up Hidan's arm he removed the ring with the Kanji for three and walked away.

-0-0-

**AN: And done. Sorry it's a little short guys. It will be the aftermath/end of the wave mission and returning to Konoha. This is my first attempt at a real fight scene and angst so I want to know how I did. I was thinking of giving Naruto the Hyoton due to ingesting Haku's blood (Kyubi's super regenerative powers would incorperate it into him like they did for his eyes) but i feel like it will just be giving him to many powers (I have some planned for the future). While it would be a good memento from her it just seems a bit much. But i'll let you guys decide, there is a poll on my profile. Please favorite and review**

**Erasels: I mean I'm just cutting out the Mangekyou cause right now it is kinda feeling like the middle man. Not Naruto will be able to switch to normal eyes**

**Edit1: Changed the description of Naruto's Susanoo. I couldn't find a way to make Naruto with a Asura-style Susanoo work and it looks like all Susanoo have four arms.**


	9. Chapter 8: End of Wave Mission

**ANs at top and bottom because I got so many reviews and I am so happy I'm going to answer all of your questions. Prepare because it's going to be pretty huge. Before that I'm announcing the wining poll and another poll. The winner of the current poll is… Human form! It was actually a pretty close tie between this and just sentient. I think human was winning first, then sentient then human finally pulled out with two votes. The new poll will be whether or not I should edit/change the abilities of the Rinnegan cause I feel some of them are just too game breaking and I have some ideas that I think would be cool (WARNING: REVIEW Q&A MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)**

**Enlace: No Naruto doesn't unlock the Naraka path this early. No fuckin way. I wouldn't be able to kill any characters that way and I feel like if everyone just survives and everything is just peachy and dandy the fic feels too fluffy. Know what I mean? Hell I'm not even sure if I WANT Naruto to get the Naraka path**

**Naruto-Shepard: Eh there won't be any REAL pairings so to say. He will have a relationship with some girls but the relationship will end. Because it doesn't work or because of… other reasons. Like I said in my earlier chapters, the ending won't be happy (for Naruto) but I will go into a crossover(s) were he does get a happy ending**

**Erasels: Ring closest to the pupil**

**Darkcloudt2: The Hyoton bloodline and the kind you are thinking about are two different things. The hyoton you are thinking about lets the person manipulate the surrounding ice while the bloodline lets the person create and manipulate ice (Thank you FireballofAmateratsu)**

**RavenWhiteMoi: That is true in most cases. S-class Shinobi are supposed to be monsters but Hidan was taken down by Shikamaru… a Chunin… alone…**

**LeroyallenXNaruto: Well yeah I plan to use despair as catalysts to unlock the abilities of the Rinnegan… but where is the despair of losing someone when you can just revive them two seconds later?... Your right, I also think it's not about his abilities but rather how he uses them but the thing is that he has SO MANY potential abilities I need to put some limiter on him. So I'll just kinda address them like you listed them off**

**Yeah I kinda did do that… might have edited it out my accident… (_)**

**Naruto IS a challenge right now. He can use the Kyubi's Chakra to the one tailed cloak without losing control of himself. That basically lets him walk through all C-rank and lower Jutsu's. If Naruto mastered and I mean MASTERED two elements before the Chunin exams he would stomp everyone there possibly including Orochimaru… the reason I have Sasuke and Naruto being about the same in strength right now… let me put it this way. Naruto is like a fucking rocket launcher. Point him in a direction and he will blow everything to hell. Sasuke is like a sniper rifle. Made for precision kills. In an environment where it is one on one or even three on three they feel like they are about as strong as each other with Sasuke having a bit more of an edge. Like how a rocket launcher is hard to aim but up close its king but with a sniper rifle you can snipe someone from like a mile away before they even know you're there. But when their opponents increase in numbers/strength then the difference becomes more noticeable. I don't wana reveal too much but with who Naruto's 'final boss' will be he will basically have to become Rikudo Sennin 2.0 to win.**

**I don't really want to kill Haku cause I like the HakuxNaruto pairings too… but at the same time if I let him unlock the Naraka path then I pretty much can't kill anyone off later… like I said before I might just remove the Naraka path all together (or edit parts of it and move the revival/healing ability to the outerpath)**

**As for Naruto waiting until Sasuke has his Mangekyou to visit the Naka Shrine it's because they don't really have a reason to want to go there yet. They have no reason to go mongering for as much power as they can get. But they do have a reason now and I will be having them visit the Naka Shrine this/next chapter. As for the Six Paths technique… I have plans for that. I think you all will like it but it's not going to be for a while. Uhhh what else… Yes the Rinnegan does make learning Jutsu's easier but it doesn't make executing them easier. The problem Naruto has is in the execution.**

**I don't own Naruto or any references I make in this fic**

Team Seven stood at two graves decorated with a simple cross. Both had a Kiri headband around them but one had Naruto's orange scarf also wrapped around it. The sun was setting, creating a red dawn as the four Konoha nin thought about the encounter that cost Haku and Zabuza their lives.

Kakashi realized that he wasn't strong enough. He may have gotten a portion of what he once had back but it was still not enough. It was only through sheer luck and their comrades sacrifice that all of his students were still alive. Once he got back to Konoha he would train and train and train. Never again would he have to make an excuse in front of a grave.

Sakura cursed her uselessness. While she was able to take out one of Kakuzu's hearts and heal Naruto that was all she did. She didn't have the front line capabilities of her team and all she could do was make sure they didn't die after the fight. That wasn't enough for her Sakura decided. She would have to get stronger, faster, and more precise so that she could stand alongside Naruto and Sasuke rather than just waiting for them to come back.

Sasuke was still baffled at the power of an S-rank nin. He was completely outclassed and would have been killed if not for Kakashi, even after he and Naruto had gotten the jump on them. Even with Kakashi they had just barely gotten away by the skin of their teeth. _'So this is how far away we are from you… nii-san…'_

Rippled blue eyes staring blankly at the graves, Naruto had the fake hunter mask Haku wore in his hand and Zabuza's Kubikiribocho **(Decapitating Carving Knife)** attached to his back with Chakra. Turning around he gazed at the setting sun. _'Just like the one when I found out my family had been killed…' _When Haku died and Naruto saw Zabuza charge after Hidan he knew that Zabuza wasn't coming back. The cry that tore through his throat was of a man who was determined to take down his foe at any cost. Closing his eyes he remembered what Kakashi had said were Zabuza's last words to him.

'_When you find the fucker… cut his head off.' _Naruto knew who Zabuza was referring to even if Kakashi didn't. The man who had murdered his parents… Who brainwashed Zabuza's old friend.

While Naruto was sad, just like when he had lost his family, unlike that time he had someone to blame. True Itachi did massacre the clan but he somehow subconsciously he knew that Itachi was innocent. However this time he knew exactly who to blame for Haku and Zabuza's death. And that someone was trying to scurry away before Naruto could get to them.

As Naruto began to walk away Kakashi turned to his student. "Naruto, where are you going?"

Naruto didn't turn around at first even though he stopped. For a second Kakashi thought that he wasn't going to get an answer until Naruto turned his head to reveal he had put Haku's hunter-nin mask on.

"To kill a rat."

-0-0-

-Gato's hideout;

A terrified mercenary panicked trying to get as far away from his inhuman adversary as he could "What the hell is this kid?!" was the cry of one of Gato's thugs before he was brutally bisected by a Kubikiribocho with an angry red glow.

The day had started out so well. Once all the men had reported to his hideout Gato was going to bring them to the bridge to take control of it. However that was when the day went to hell. Suddenly there was some strange writing that circled the building and for some reason no one could pass it. Everyone of Gato's thugs and mercenaries were trapped. Then IT appeared.

Wreathed in some bubbling red cloak with spikey blood red hair and some odd mask it just appeared in the center of the group trying to get out and began cutting everyone down with a massive butcher knife. There was no mercy as blood painted the walls of the hideout red. Eventually a thug with a massive hammer managed to smash the blade in-half but the blade seemed to drink in the blood around it to repair itself. Even when they tried to hide the demon seemed to be able to just track them down and would slaughter them with no mercy. The worst part was when it pinned one man to the wall though his stomach and put the other hand on his forehead. The man's soul was ripped right out of him and the demon casually flicked it to the wind as if it was nothing. After that rather than just slaughtering everyone it came across the demon seemed to actually have a destination

-0-0-

-Gato's office;

They had barred the door with everything they had and were as far away from it as they would get. Gato was hiding in a corner having wet his pants already while his bodyguards Zori and Waraji didn't look too far away. The screams had suddenly stopped and they hoped that whatever it was killing everyone had gone away rather than there just being no one left to scream.

Waraji shakily walked in front of the junk barring the door "I-is it over?" he asked…

…before a bubbling red claw burst through the door and smashed him into the wall killing him on impact.

"Waraji!" Zori cried with wide eyes seeing his partner killed instantly. Turning he managed to see a flash of red before his head fell from his shoulders.

Naruto watched the mercenaries' head roll on the ground with impassive eyes. Turning to Gato, who seemed to have emptied his bowls, Naruto thought about how easy it was to get in and wipe out all of Gato's mercenaries. He had his clones send out messages to bring all of the people under Gato's pay roll to his hideout and activated the containment seal to trap all of them inside while he transformed and hid. After all the people had figured out that they were trapped and congregated around the edge of the barrier he released his transformation and drew on enough of the Kyubi's Chakra to form the one tailed cloak which also surrounded his sword. They had no chance and were all slaughtered. His Chakra was absurdly corrosive due to how angry he was and it was actually _melting _the Kubikiribocho. Naruto remembered how Zabuza had repaired the blade after his fight with Kakashi by pouring his blood unto it. When he had asked the deceased swords man why it did that, Zabuza replied that he didn't know all the details but apparently his sword used the iron in blood to repair itself. As such he immediately began killing the mercenaries around him while his sword would instantly repair itself using the blood spilt and seemed to melt slower each time it was reformed. At this point it had seemed to have stopped melting and adopted an angry red sheen, the cloak around it disappearing, but he had killed hundreds of mercenaries and his sword had probably absorbed gallons of blood.

"P-please don't kill me" Gato said his pride having left him when his bowel control had "I-i-I'll give you anything you want! Money, women, power anything!"

Naruto said nothing before his hand shot out and grabbed the corrupt business man's head. Gato began to scream as the Chakra burned off his skin.

"**You couldn't give me what I want."**

Gato stopped screaming as his soul left his body, which landed with a dull thump on the ground. With the knowledge that he needed Naruto let his Chakra shroud dissipate and let go of Gato's soul to let it go to the afterlife. Attaching the Kubikiribocho, which had lost its red sheen, to his back with Chakra Naruto took out a storage scroll and unsealed a bundle of explosive tags.

-0-0-

-Tazuna's bridge;

An explosion was heard in the distance as plumes of smoke began to drift into the sky. Tazuna turned his head in the direction of the explosion. "So that's the end of Gato huh? It just seems like such a simple end to our troubles."

Kakashi turned another page of his Icha Icha. Unlike before he had both of his eyes uncovered and his left eye seemed to have an odd pattern. "As I said. There was no way Naruto would let Zabuza and Haku's deaths go unpunished. How long until the bridge is complete? It looks just about done."

Tazuna nodded. "Yeah it should only take a day or so more. So how are your kids doing?" he hadn't seen any of them since after they visited Haku and Zabuza's graves.

Sighing Kakashi shook his head. "Well you probably know where Naruto is" he said motioning the rising pillar of smoke "Sasuke and Sakura haven't stopped training even though I told them to wait until we got back to Konoha. They think that they didn't do enough even though I said they did. Honestly, our first C-rank really went FUBAR."

"So what rank do you think you would put this mission after everything that has happened?"

Kakashi closed his eyes and seemed to ponder even though he already knew the answer in his mind

"S-rank"

-0-0-

-Forests

Sasuke couldn't help but wince as Sakura hit the ground again with a dull thud. After they got back from the graves she asked him to help her train and had cut her hair to just below her neck. Since Sasuke was waiting until he could check out the Naka Shrine back at home with Naruto he agreed. They had spent the last three hours sparing and every time Sakura would fall down she got right back up. Sasuke was getting worried "Sakura maybe we should take a break."

Wiping some dirt from her brow Sakura stood back up and wiped some sweat from her forehead. Sasuke was really good at Taijutsu and he wasn't even using his Sharingan at the moment. "No… no its not enough… still not enough… I want to be able to… to stand beside you and Naruto… not just… stand behind you…" Sakura panted before shakily standing up and getting back into her stance. Sasuke nodded and closed his eyes.

Opening his eyes he revealed three red intersecting eclipses blazing with power on a black pupil.

"Then I'll stop holding back."

-0-0-

-River near Gato's hideout

Naruto sighed, Sharingan lazily spinning, as he scrubbed some of the dried blood off of his arms. After he had killed Gato he was just going to head back to Tazuna's house when he had noticed he was somehow covered in blood. It was odd since the Kyubi's cloak acted as a sort of a membrane, only letting certain things past it. For some reason it didn't block the blood so he was drenched in it. Deciding to wash himself before he went back, as he was sure Tsunami wouldn't appreciate him trailing blood everywhere, Naruto had stripped and was washing himself in a river. He idly noted that even though he felt some sort of revenge for Zabuza and Haku's death, killing all of those thugs and Gato himself just left him with an empty feeling. It didn't make him feel any better and just left him with a cold feeling of satisfaction that left as soon as he thought about Haku again. Not to mention he now had the blood of over one hundred people on his hands. He didn't really care and that worried him more than anything else.

"It is natural. Those people stood in between you and your objective. As a Shinobi you were simply doing your job and they just got in the way."

Hearing a voice Naruto's eyes widened and he turned around before immediately flushing red down to his neck and hands. She had long black hair, blood red eyes with slits irises, a small amused smile and a perfect hourglass figure with D-cup breasts. However since there was a level of seduction training in the academy it was none of that which had Naruto looking like a tomato.

She was completely naked.

Naked as the day she was born with her legs crossed, knees up squishing her boobs against her chest, arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting on her knees. Naruto worked his jaw for a moment before he closed his eyes and turned around again. While he could still remember the view perfectly due to the photographic memory of the Sharingan it helped him calm his heart down a little. She probably wasn't an enemy since he hadn't sensed her at all until she had made herself known. So it would be a good idea to figure out why she was here. But he had to project an air of confidence that let them both know he was in charge. "S-s-so why are you here?" Yep stuttering is definitely a sign of confidence.

The small smile turned seductive "Oh what do you mean Naruto-kun?" she purred clearly enjoying Naruto's flustered state. "I've been here the whole time." Stream started pouring from Naruto's ears. She had been there since he first took off his cloths and put down Haku's mask and the Kubi-

That thought pierced through his flustered state. Flush fading to a slight blush Naruto spun around and narrowed his eyes creating a claymore from his Chakra, pointing it at the woman "Where is the Kubikiribocho **(Decapitating Carving Knife)" **

The woman responded by standing up, giving Naruto a full view and causing his blush to deepen a little more, and seemingly pulling the Kubikiribocho from thin air before lunging at him. Caught by surprise Naruto was immediately disarmed and was kicked in the chest hard, sending him skidding across the river and onto the opposing shore**. **Coughing up some blood he noted that he had broken some ribs. Feeling a weight on his chest Naruto opened his eyes to see the woman straddling his chest with the Kubikiribocho under his neck. "W-who are you?" Naruto asked having trouble breathing due to one of his ribs poking his lung.

The woman frowned slightly before getting up, "It's somewhat disappointing my new wielder is so weak. But then again you are young. You have time to get stronger." said the woman tossing Naruto's clothes to him.

Naruto put his clothes on and cradled his ribs already feeling them healing, _'wielder…' _Naruto thought narrowing his eyes "You're related to the Kubikiribocho somehow."

Smiling slightly she nodded as a grey kimono with silver trimmings materialized around her that had one of the sleeves cut off. It also had an obi with a circle cut out in the middle and was black. "Tell me, do you know the history of the blades of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist?" when Naruto shook his head she took that as a sign to continue "The Seven Ninja Swordsman is actually pretty recent. Having been formed only a decade or so after Kiri," Naruto resisted the urge to ask the woman how old she was. For some reason it just didn't seem like a good idea. "However the blades are much older, almost dating back to the time of the Rikudo Sennin. But back then the blades were just that, simple blades. There was no absorbing metal to repair the sword, no absorbing Chakra or generating lightning, back when they were first forged they were simply very sharp swords. Then one day they came into the hands of my siblings and I and were forever changed. We each imbued the swords with a piece of our power and our souls. The Samehada which was once just a hooked sword grew scales. The Kiba became able to generate its own lightning and the Kubikiribocho would be able to repair itself." Seeing the question in Naruto's eyes she stopped so he could ask it.

Naruto, who had stopped holding his ribs as they had already healed, had several things he wanted to ask but one thing was first in his mind. "What's your name?"

At this the woman's amused smile faltered and gave way to a more melancholy one. "I don't remember. Honestly I think this is the first time I have been able to materialize my human form since I originally died. Call me whatever you want."

Nodding Naruto scrunched up his face and crossed his arms as if in thought. After a while his face lite up and he hit his palm with his fist. "I got it! I'll call you Kubi-chan!"

At first the now named Kubi showed no outward reaction. Then she started giggling which gave way to full blown laughter. Naruto had an affronted look on his face. "What! I worked hard to come up with that name!" his response was even more laughter to which he crossed his arms and pouted

Eventually the woman calmed down and smiled at the boy "I'm sorry. I haven't laughed that hard in forever."

Naruto stopped pouting and grinned back "Yeah I bet "

"So do you have any more questions? I'm running out of Chakra and soon I'll turn back into the sword."

Suddenly something popped into Naruto's mind. A power he unlocked only days ago "Wait… you said your soul is bound to the blade? What would happen if it was removed from it?"

The sword spirit put her hand on her chin in thought. "I'm… not sure. My power is intricately tied into the sword to the point where they are basically one in the same. If you were to try to remove the portion of my soul connected to the blade it would cause the blade to enter an ethereal state following were ever you put my soul. Why."

"One second." Naruto closed his eyes in a meditative manner and reached out to the beast inside him.

'_Hey Kyubi, you awake?'_

"***Yawn* Now I am. What do you want perverted monkey?"**

'_Hey I'm not a pervert!'_

"**I'm in your head. I know your memories and thoughts. Yes you are. Now what do you want?"**

In the outside world Naruto's eyebrow was twitching rapidly.

'_You know my thoughts. What do you think?'_

The Kyubi was silent for a moment before it responded **"Yes… I suppose it could work. It's a clever idea and I wouldn't mind some company in here either."**

'_HA! Now whose the pervert?!'_

"**Still you, I'm female."**

Naruto opened his eyes and blinked once. Twice. Three times.

'_Wait I thought you said that Biju's were genderless.'_

"**We are but our original forms were humans."**

'_Wait what?'_

"**I'll explain later. For now you have to answer the sword spirit."**

Opening his eyes Naruto saw Kubi right in front of his face. Letting out a definitively unmanly shriek he fell on his ass. Kubi herself was rubbing her ears. "Ow… why did you do that?!" Naruto shouted

"You were making strange faces. I assume you were talking to the Kyubi."

"Yeah… wait how do you know about the Kyubi?"

"I don't remember everything but I do have some memories of my time as a sword. You are a Jinchuriki like Rikudo-sama"

"I see… anyway this might feel weird but bear with me for a second." Naruto said as he got up and dusted his backside off. Closing his eyes he reached out and put his hand on Kubi's forehead. Opening his eyes they were now a miniature pupil with concentric circles glowing blue with power

_Preta Path!_

Pulling out Kubi's soul her form reverted back to the blade form before it wavered and disappeared. He noted that her soul was white but with strands of red giving it a pinkish hue, before he thrust it into his stomach.

-0-0-

-Naruto's mindscape;

Landing in a crouch Kubi stood up and held her head. _'Ugh that felt… weird' _"Where am I?"

'_Uhh are you in like a sewer like place with pipes on the walls?' _Naruto's voice seemed to reverberate, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Frowning Kubi looked around. There was water coming up to the middle of her shins bot oddly it didn't feel wet. "Yeah why where am i?"

For some reason she got the feeling that Naruto was pumping his fist _'YEAH it worked Dattebayo!'_

'_He has a verbal tick. How cute.' _Kubi filled that away for future reference with a smile in case she needed to tease him. "What worked?"

'_I figured that since your pupils were red and silted like mine used to be when I used the Kyubi's Chakra so I thought that I might have infused you with some of the Kyubi's Chakra when I killed all those thugs. Since your soul is basically bound to your Chakra that meant I could probably get you into my seal since it would think you were part of the Kyubi but since you only have a small amount of her Chakra you wouldn't be trapped by the seal.' _You could hear the pride in his voice.

Kubi smiled "That's quite clever Naruto-kun but how will you use my physical form?"

'_I got that figured out too!'_

Kubi felt a pull before she left the Naruto's mindscape.

-0-0-

When she regained conscious she noticed that she was in sword form and Naruto had a wide grin on his face.

"It's just like when I use the Kyubi's Chakra and I can send you back the same way I use the Kyubi's Chakra too!" Naruto said before twirling the sword and attaching it to his back with Chakra.

'_Hmm that's interesting. If you ever lose track of where I am you can just return me to the seal with the Kyubi Chakra acting as a beacon.'_

"Yep! By the way would you rather be out here or in the seal?" Naruto asked seeing as how the sword could speak to him telepathically

'_You just need to think instead of talking out loud. I would rather be out here. Your mind is fairly dirty Naruto-kun.'_

"I'M NOT A PERVERT DATTEBAYO!"

-0-0-

Naruto was walking back to Tazuna's house with the Kubikiribocho on his back and Haku's mask attached to his hip. He had spent the past hour walk pestering Kubi about just about everything. He learned that Kubi would be teaching him how to use the sword rather than just having him passively absorb how to use it like her previous owners. He also learned that the power the Kubi had in her lifetime was the Hyoton like Haku. She imbued ice's power to freeze nearby water and turn it into ice into her sword causing it to absorb blood to repair itself. When Naruto said he didn't understand she told him to think of it as how ice was able to repair itself with its base elements with a source of cold. The same way the sword could repair itself with the iron in blood with her power as the source. One of the first things he asked as if the damage the sword felt was also felt by her but she told him it wasn't but it was sweet that he cared about her. While Kubi did find the stream of questions somewhat annoying she thought it was good that it was distracting Naruto from obsessing over Haku and Zabuza's deaths.

He arrived at Tazuna's house at the same time as Sasuke who was slightly tired and Sakura who looked dead on her feet while leaning on Sasuke. When Naruto asked what was with them they both just replied training. Kakashi arrived with Tazuna and told them that the bridge would be complete tomorrow. While dinner was a relatively normal affair Team Seven was happy that Naruto had bounced back. After dinner everyone went to their rooms. Sakura and Tazuna's family fell asleep relatively quickly but Sasuke, Kakashi and Naruto were in Sasuke's room and having a relatively secret conversation.

Kakashi wasn't sure what was going on. Sasuke had asked the silver haired Jonin to come to his room after dinner because he and Naruto had something to talk to him about. The expression he had on was relatively grave so that meant that if Kakashi showed up three hours late then he would be subjected to another one of Naruto's 'pranks'. Kakashi shivered remembering the last one. "So what did you guys want to talk about?"

Sasuke and Naruto shared a look before Sasuke spoke "Kakashi-sensei… do you know how to use your Mangekyou Sharingan?"

That took Kakashi by surprise. "… I know how to use Kamui **(Authority of the Gods)** but the reason I don't use it is because I'm not that good at it."

"Well… there is a tablet in the Naka Shrine that is supposed to teach you how to use the Mangekyou techniques better. Sasuke and I planned to check it out once we got back since this mission showed us that we aren't strong enough. Since you have a Mangekyou we wondered if you wanted to check it out with us." Naruto said

"I think that would be a good idea."

-0-0-

The next day the bridge was completed. The people of Wave had originally wanted to name it the Great Naruto Bridge but Naruto shook his head and told them that it wasn't just him and that he wanted the bridge to honor everyone. In the end it was named The Bridge of Bonds. As Team Seven walked back to Konoha not much was said. Naruto was his usual bright self but he seemed to sink inward every now and then. Sasuke would sometimes look at the road as if he was looking at someone's back. Sakura walked aside Sasuke and Naruto, thinking of ways to get stronger and Kakashi read his Icha Icha.

-0-0-

-Hokage Tower;

"Team Seven reporting back from a C-rank mission turned S-rank."

Silence filled the room at Kakashi's declaration. Iruka had dropped the scrolls he was sorting. The Sandaime had dropped his pipe and everyone was staring at Kakashi with wide eyes. "Could you repeat that Kakashi-kun? I'm not sure I heard you correctly." The Sandaime said the first one to recover from Kakashi's stunning declaration.

"Of course Hokage-sama. Team Seven reporting back from a C-rank mission turned S-rank."

The Hokage's eyes immediately sharpened. "Tell me what happened."

Kakashi nodded "While escorting the client Tazuna we came across C-rank missing nins the Demon Brothers. They were easily dispatched and when we confronted Tazuna he admitted that he and lied about the mission parameters. Due to how well trained my Genin were I decided to continue the mission believe I would be able to handle any threat and my Genin could save me if I was over my head. We later ran into A-rank missing nin Momochi Zabuza. While I engaged Zabuza my Genin had sensed that he had an accomplice that they proceeded to capture forcing Zabuza to surrender. We would arrive at Tazuna's house with no issue and over the next two weeks Naruto bonded with Zabuza and Haku causing them to agree to help us as thanks for not simply killing them. A few days before the bridge was finished, however, Naruto had informed us that Gato had hired two S-rank missing nin, Kakuzu of Takigakure and Hidan of Yukigakure, to kill Zabuza, us and the bridge builder because of shadow clones he had transformed and hid in Gato's hideout. In the resulting skirmish Zabuza, Hidan and Haku were all killed while Kakuzu was severely injured and fled. With his last words Zabuza passed his sword onto Naruto, who proceeded to kill Gato and a great number of his thugs. Afterwards the bridge was completed."

Sarutobi nodded shakily. Encountering two S-rank missing nin's during your first out of village mission must have been terrifying. He had been expecting the worst when Kakashi was the only one to show up for the mission debriefing but he now realized that the man must have sent his Genin home for some R&R.

"Very well. I will be expecting a written report. You may inform Team Seven that the payment will be delivered to them personally and they are being given a three week leave to recover."

"Hokage-sama" Kakashi nodded his head in acknowledgement before he disappeared in a Shunshin.

-0-0-

-infront of the Naka Shrine;

"So are you both ready?" Naruto asked with his Sharingan active.

Sasuke nodded with his atom-styled Mangekyou. Kakashi pulled up his headband to reveal his pinwheel shaped Mangekyou.

Frowning as his Mangekyou wasn't activating no matter how much Chakra he put into his eyes he decided to ask the Kyubi

'_Hey Kyubi do you kn-'_

"**The Rinnegan is the natural evolution of the Sharingan. You should be able to do everything you could do with the Mangekyou with your Rinnegan."**

Giving a mental nod Naruto stopped feeding Chakra to his Sharingan, causing it to revert back to his Rinnegan. Turning to his companions he nodded.

Assuming Naruto knew what he was doing Sasuke walked into the Naka Shrine unlocked the seal that hid the entrance to the secret Uchiha meeting room.

The secret Uchiha meeting room was relatively large but the part they were looking for was surrounded by stone rather than wood. It had two odd symbols on the left and right walls with two eternally burning braziers. However none of that was what caught their attention. What did was a massive tablet coming up to Kakashi's waste and was about twice as wide as it was tall. Over it was another inscription flanked by two Uchiha symbols. The trio looked at each other before walking up and trying to read the tablet with their respective Dojutsus. As they read more and more of the Tablet their eyes widened.

Sasuke took a step back obviously shaken. "What…"

"the…" Kakashi said putting a hand over his mouth.

Naruto, who could read more of the tablet then Sasuke or Kakashi finished their statement with a resounding

"FUCK!?"

-0-0-

**AN2: Ok I think I'm just going to have my chapters being around 6K words from now on. That feels like a good amount of words for me but I'm not going to try to stick too hard to it. So what I think I'm going to do is having the ability of the Mangekyou go to those people like in canon but Naruto will be able use all of the Mangekyou abilities since he naturally unlocked his Rinnegan and the Rinnegan is the evolution of the Mangekyou and all that jazz**


	10. Chapter 9: Secrets of the Kaleidoscope

**AN: Ok I'm just going to be answering questions at the top from now on. I don't own anything (WARNING REVIEW Q&A MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)**

**Erasels: He didn't unlock the Naraka path, it was the Human path. There will be more Kyubi-Naruto interactions during the Chunin exams**

**Enlace: What I plan to do with Sakura for now is a secret **

**Edengrave: Naruto unlocked the Rinnegan through a combination of having Shisui's Mangekyou, his Uzumaki genes and the Kyubi's Chakra. No one else that doesn't have it in canon will have the Rinnegan.**

**Philipindustrys: Na not yet. Unless the Manga ends/Kishimoto tells us what it says I'll keep it somewhat vague**

**Ideadlyx:OMG sir to you I give an internet. I'm so sorry I missed that. Major face palm**

**Guest reviews: (I'll only type part of the review)**

**1: You know if Naruto is eating right then he wouldn't be short because he ate ramen everyday…**

**(I'm not typing out the whole thing) In canon we never actually get confirmation that eating ramen everyday was what made Naruto short. For all we knew he was naturally a late bloomer.**

**2:Naruto isn't the last unless Karin…**

**I mean the last Uzumaki in Konoha. Also having red hair doesn't automatically mean you an Uzumaki but if you're an Uzumaki you WILL have red hair(I think)**

**3:the stereotypical bishounen…**

**I know I might have played that angle a bit too much but it was mostly Sasuke mocking Naruto**

**4: Why make Kyubi a girl it says it…**

**Eh its more for any future harem crossovers I might write but I do think fem-kyubi and Naruto interactions would be funny. Most fem-kyubi have the Kyubi acting a bit to girly for my taste. In my fic I hope to portray it more as it's the Kyubi but it has a female form you know?**

Secrets of the Kaleidoscope

Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi sat stunned in more spacious area of the secret Uchiha meeting room. "Naruto… Sasuke… I'm sorry… but your clan is fucked up." Kakashi finally said breaking the engulfing silence.

The brothers didn't respond at first "In our defense…" Sasuke began slowly "…Naruto's adopted and my family were relatively normal until Itachi-nii-san killed everyone…" Sasuke finished in a dazed tone. Naruto only mutely nodded.

"On second thought…" Sasuke continued "… if this is why Itachi-nii-san killed our clan I don't think I can blame him anymore…"

The three possessors of the Sharingan shuddered at what they had read on the tablet. It did contain what they came to find. The knowledge of how to properly utilize the Mangekyou techniques but that's not all it contained: the secrets of Uchiha Madara's body, the story of the Rikudo Sennin and the Ten Tails, and the Eien no Mangekyou **(Eternal Kaleidoscope), **possibly the most disturbing of the secret of the Uchiha.

The three most powerful techniques of the Mangekyou came at a great cost, one's eyesight. Naruto and Sasuke, both having only used Susanoo **(He with the ability to help by all means) **for a moment didn't suffer the vision degeneration and if what the tablet said was true Naruto would never lose his eyesight while his Rinnegan was active but it would whittle away at the eyesight of his Sharingan. Madara experienced this degeneration first hand after killing his father to unlock the Mangekyou. After his eyesight had completely disappeared due to overuse he had stolen his brothers Mangekyou and transplanted Izuna's eyes unto his own. But that wasn't the end of the horrors of what Madara did to strengthen himself. During the death match at the Valley of the End where the Uchiha Patriarch fought the Shodai Hokage, Madara stole some of Hashirama's cells and intergraded them onto himself in hopes of awakening the Rinnegan. The tablet didn't say whether or not he succeeded.

The Uchiha were truly a fucked up clan. One would kill someone very close to them for power and mortally wound their brother to remove the consequences of that power. And from what the three Sharingan users had read Madara wasn't the first one to try: Just the first one to succeed. Apparently Shisui and Sasuke were two of only three Uchiha in history to be able to unlock the Mangekyou without murdering someone close to them. The tablet spoke of a third Uchiha who had unlocked their Mangekyou without the killing of one who was close to them but it didn't mention a name.

Naruto was the first one to shake off his shock "Guys… I don't think we should tell the village this." Naruto said with a hard look in his eyes.

"What do you mean Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

Closing his eyes Naruto sighed "This village… this village sees what it wants to see. If we were to tell them about this, they wouldn't welcome Itachi back and see him as a hero. They would see him as a threat. The next Uchiha Madara. You might want to believe in the village but I can't." the way Konoha had treated Naruto hadn't left him with a good impression of the village. He hated the guts of most civilians.

Sasuke frowned. He wanted his nii-san back but he understood what Naruto was saying. "I agree with Naruto." At least now he had a reason as to why Itachi did what he did.

Running his hand through his hair and leaning back Kakashi nodded. "So what do we do now? While Naruto and I can practice our Mangekyou powers Sasuke can't unless he wants to go blind." As far as Kakashi knew the boy there was no way he would take his brother's eyes like Madara did unless Itachi wanted him to.

Closing his eyes Sasuke thought about his situation. He had a solution… it wasn't the most elegant but it would work. "Kakashi-sensei… can you teach me how to fight with one of my eyes covered?" Looking at the Jonin Sasuke could see the surprise in his both of his eyes as Kakashi hadn't covered his Sharingan yet.

"I… I could but why?" Kakashi didn't understand Sasuke's reasoning.

Sasuke pointed at the stone tablet. "This tablet says that if you use Amaterasu or Tsukiyomi then whichever eye the respective Jutsu is in will slowly go blind. I'll just let the eye with Amaterasu go blind then. I'll finish my fire manipulation training and use it to manipulate Amaterasu." Sasuke said with a determined look on his face.

"That's an awesome idea! Dattebayo!" Naruto said throwing his arms in the air. Sasuke turned to his adopted younger brother with a smile. He still had that ridiculous verbal tick from when he was younger "You should work on perfecting the Susanoo."

That stopped Naruto's celebrating "What why!?" Naruto asked with wide eyes

"The way Susanoo is properly manifested, according to the tablet, is by having one eye create the physical body while the other eye moves it but…"

Naruto grinned "I can manifest it with my bloodline and then use both of my eyes to move it"

Sasuke nodded then he turned to his sensei "What are you going to do Kakashi?"

The masked Shinbo just eye smiled "Oh I have an idea don't worry. I think I'll keep it secret for now."

"What!" Naruto yelled standing up "We just told you what we're doing! Why can't you tell us what you're doing?!"

"I think it'll be a good surprise."

-0-0-

-one month later;

"I wonder what Naruto-kun and his team has been doing. I haven't seen him for two weeks." A certain Hyuga heiress said while walking with her team.

"I wana know that too! You know I can't even find any of them except Sakura and when I asked her she said that she hadn't seen them for almost two weeks!" Kiba whined.

"It is logical that they are training as Sakura-san was. After all it is not every day you survive an encounter with two S-rank missing nins" Shino said pushing up his glasses.

Word that Team Seven had completed an S-rank mission had spread like wildfire. Hatake Kakashi was good but he wasn't good enough to take on two S-rank missing nin's at civilians immediately tried to give all the credit to their 'Uchiha-sama' while the Shinobi side believed Naruto harnessed the power of the Kyubi to save his team mates. The Shinobi council was getting more and more fed up with their civilian counterparts and many of the more reasonable civilian council members had already quit their positions including one Ichiraku Teuchi.

"There's no way that the dead last could take down an S-rank or even Sasuke-teme! Back me up here Hinata!" Kiba said looking at Hinata.

"Oh I wouldn't know about that…" Hinata said with a twinkle in her eye before she walked away.

"What! There's no way! Back me up here Shino! Shino?!" Kiba looked around and found that Shino had somehow disappeared

-0-0-

-some remote Mountain Ranges;

Sasuke panted as he looked at his progress in fire manipulation. He had completed the first task of burning a leaf in less than 10 seconds and now he was working on the second task, burning an entire tree in under a minute. Wiping sweat from his brow Sasuke glanced over to where Naruto and Kakashi were training.

Naruto had his eyes shut tight in concentration trying to form his Susanoo with his bloodline. He was able to manifest half the ribcage and half of the upper arm. Unlike when he used the Susanoo during the fight with Hidan and Kakuzu the way he was trying to do it right now consumed much less Chakra but was harder to concentrate on. He couldn't even move while using it but it was better than nothing.

Kakashi seemed to be staring intently at… something but Sasuke didn't know what. What as odd was how the air seemed to distort around the area of his focus. Kakashi had improved the most out of all of them, able to do the same as Naruto and keep his Sharingan on constantly, which was what the silver haired man had been focusing on for most of the time they had spent training at the Naka Shrine.

Idly noting that their little group hadn't had any other human contact for the last two weeks Sasuke turned back to the tree he was working on. Right now it still took eight minutes…

-0-0-

-outskirts of Konoha;

Sakura panted as she ran laps around Konoha. Two weeks ago when Sasuke had told her that he, Kakashi and Naruto were all going somewhere to train their Sharingans she couldn't help but feel sad as she felt she was getting left behind. Right now she was only a medic but a medic could be feared too. She had read about the Slug Sannin Tsunade and how she used her precise Chakra control to give herself a form of super strength. Sakura had been experimenting with this for the last two weeks. Stopping near a tree Sakura looked at her fist for a second before she focused her Chakra and punched the tree.

The tree splintered and cracked but it didn't go down. Gritting her teeth Sakura focused her Chakra again and punched it with her right fist.

With a resounding boom the tree collapsed on itself. Grinning Sakura resumed her laps.

She also noted that she would need to get some gloves.

-0-0-

-Akimichi Barbeque;

"Can you believe what their saying! My precious Sasuke-kun took down a big scary S-rank missing nin all by himself." Ino squealed causing both Shikamaru and Asuma to frown.

"Now now Ino I'm sure Naruto-san and Sakura-san helped too." Asuma said with a wave.

Ino tossed her hear back in an airy fashion "HA forehead and the dead last? I bet Sasuke-kun had a harder time because he had to defend those two!"

"Troublesome… that's not true Ino. Naruto's probably equal to or stronger than Sasuke." Shikamaru drawled in a lazy tone.

"What *munch* do you *munch* mean *munch* Shikamaru?" Choji said in-between bites.

Shikamaru just looked at his best friend before he turned to Ino "Sasuke and Naruto were both hiding their true strength during the academy. They wanted to be put on the same team so they decided to have one of them be the dead last and the other be rookie of the year. For reasons I don't know they decided Naruto would be the dead last and Sasuke would be rookie of the year. When I found out they made me promise not to tell anyone until they graduated."

Asuma still had his lazy demeanor but you could he was paying attention "Why would they do that?"

Shikamaru shrugged "Any number of reasons. I think it might have something to do with how most of the civilians seem to dislike Naruto for some reason."

Asuma nodded _'clever little brats… they pulled the wool over the eyes of the whole village. People would think that the Last Uchiha was an arrogant prick and the Dead Last would never amount to anything and then when it's too late they reveal their true capabilities…'_

Looking out of the window of the restaurant Asuma saw the head of the Yondaime Hokage on the mountain range.

'_You sure picked an interesting one Yondaime-sama'_

-0-0-

-Kumogakure;

"Yo yo! You stoked for the upcoming examo Yugito?" Came the horrid rapping of Killer Bee the Jinchuriki of the Habachi no Ushi-oni **(Eight Tailed Demon Ox)**.

"Shut up Bee! No I would much rather be staying in Kumo! Why do I even have to go with you and Raikage-sama anyway!" a girl with long blond hair and cat like eyes yelled

A girl with red hair and dark skin inched away from the girl "What's her problem?"

A girl with long blond hair, blue eyes and a very large chest replied "She is coming with us to the upcoming Chunin exams in Konoha to meet her fiancée. She doesn't want to because she is already a Chunin… I don't think Raikage-sama has told her she had a fiancée yet..."

"But what if her fiancée doesn't like her!? What if Konoha is invaded while we are there during the Chunin exams!? What if a criminal org-" A boy with a sucker in his mouth began before he was smacked in the back of the head by the red headed girl.

"Shut up Omoi!"

-0-0-

-Training Ground Nine

"My youthful students! We must fan our flames of youth further! There is no time to rest while my eternal rival Kakashi fans the flames of both his students and himself!" A man with a bowl cut and a green leotard shouted while running.

"YOSH! My flames of youth shall burn brightly the Chunin exams! If I cannot obtain a promotion then I will do one hundred laps around Konoha on my thumbs! If I cannot do that then I will climb the Hokage Monument with one arm! If I cannot do that…." A boy with a bowl cut and a green leotard shouted while running until his voice was too far away to be heard.

"There… is something…. Wrong with… those people…." A boy with white eyes and long hair said while he panted on the ground.

A girl with her hair styled in buns that kind of made her look like a panda pulled herself up with her arms "Its… just Lee and Gai-sensei… I figured you would be used to it… by now…"

The boy grunted as he sat up "I am but these past two weeks they have seemed even more… youthful then before…"

The girl with bun hair sighed and shook her head.

'_What have you been doing Naruto…'_

-0-0-

Naruto grunted in concentration as he used his Chakra to finish creating one arm of his Susanoo even though it caused the half of the ribcage to fade. This would be so much easier if not for the conversation currently going on within his head.

'_Really? So that was the night Naruto-kun was conceived?' _echoed the voice of Kubi

"**Indeed. Kushina-san and Minato-san had sex about sixty nine times before Naruto was conceived. I think the position they did it in that night was-"**

'_SHUT UP!' _Naruto yelled with all his mental might, an angry red blush on his cheeks

"**What?" **the Kyubi said trying to sound innocent **"We were just talking about how your father liked to stick it to your moth-"**

'_SHUT UP SHUTUP SHUTUPSHUTUP'_

"SHUTUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" Naruto yelled jumping up and clutching his head before he opened one eye to see Kakashi and Sasuke staring at him. Chuckling sheepishly and scratching the back of his head Naruto said he was sorry before he sat back down.

'_I hate you so much' _Naruto mentally grumbled with traces of a blush still on his cheeks

"**I love you too."**

'_Hey so what position was it?' _Kubi asked

'_DON'T YOU HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO TALK ABOUT?"_

'_Not really. It's more fun teasing you.'_

"**True dat"**

Naruto's left eyebrow began twitching _'Why don't you talk about… I don't know… O yeah! Kyubi didn't you say the Biju's used to be human!?'_

"**Mmm. Fine, yes us Biju's used to be human but when the Sage infused us with the Juubi's Chakra it seared our human bodies away. Hell I don't even have any memories of when I was human"**

'_Why don't you just use the Chakra Naruto-kun's given you to change back to your human form?'_

"**I… suppose I could do that… actually speaking of that there is something I need to talk to you about. Come into the seal" **

'_Hold on hold on give me a second.' _Naruto thought before he willed himself towards the seal.

-0-0-

-Naruto's Mindscape;

When Naruto arrived in the seal he saw Kubi standing in front of the Kyubi's cage with the same kimono she had on the last time he saw her and he saw the Kyubi on its hunches poking a massive ball of dark blue Chakra.

"Is… is that?" Naruto said with wide eyes pointing at the ball of Chakra that towered over himself and the sword spirit, even seeming to be a couple yards taller than the Kyubi.

"**Indeed it is." **The Kyubi replied as it continued inspecting the massive orb of Chakra

Naruto grabbed his head "What! How the fuck do I have so much Chakra? It's bigger then you Kyubi!"

The Kyubi began poking the orb in random places **"I wasn't joking when I said you would become a pseudo Biju if you didn't find a way to control your Chakra. It doesn't have as much Chakra as I do but this thing probably has more Chakra then the Sanbi no Kyodaigame (Three Tailed Giant Turtle). What's your current level of draining?" **

Naruto lifted up his shirt and channeled Chakra. The Shikki Fuin **(Dead Soul Consuming Seal) **appeared and super imposed over it was another seal that read 40.

The Kyubi frowned _**'At this rate the boy is going to have as much Chakra as I have sealed in here by the time he's 16… we need to find some way to get rid of it before it breaks the seal… I was just going to wrap myself in some of it to give myself a human form…but I could try to absorb the entire thing into myself…'**_

"I thought the seal channeled the Chakra directly to you?" Naruto said looking at the seal thinking something was wrong.

"**It does but the larger part is put in here" **the Kyubi said pointing to the massive ball of Chakra

"**We need to get rid of this thing before it overwhelms the Shikki Fuin. I'll absorb it all into myself but I will probably be out for a couple days. It will also probably revert me into a form similar to my original human form."**

"Why would it only be similar?" Naruto asked

"**Because the Uzumaki Chakra is what causes your hair to turn red. It will probably have a similar effect on me."**

The Kyubi stuck its arm into the ball of Chakra and winced. It would be out for a couple days after this. Slowly the Chakra sunk into its arm before sliding along its skin seemingly covering its body. Naruto and Kubi watched with slightly worried eyes. The giant ball of Chakra eventually covered the Kyubi before it began to glow and shrink. When the Chakra had finished shrinking the glow died down. What was revealed caused Naruto to let out a strangled gasp and blush red like a tomato and Kubi to smile in amusement.

Kyubi's new form had long red hair down to her knees. She appeared to be sleeping so they couldn't see her eyes but that didn't stop them from taking in her figure. With an hourglass figure with supple B-cup breasts and mile long legs the Kyubi's human form appeared to be in her mid-early teens, maybe a year or two older than Naruto. She would have appeared relatively human if it weren't for the nine long bushy fox tails behind her and the fox ears on her head, both the same shade of orange she had in her Biju form. She was also naked. While Naruto stood there gaping like a fish Kubi had a devious idea. Dispelling her kimono she walked through the bars and picked up Kyubi from behind and lightly groped her breasts. When the humanized Biju let out a slight moan Naruto couldn't take anymore and was out like a light. The sword spirit couldn't help but grin. Her new wielder was so innocent.

-0-0-

-outside of Naruto's mindscape;

Sasuke and Kakashi couldn't help but stop what they were doing and stare as Naruto rocketed back with a mighty torrent of blood from his nose.

-0-0-

-somewhere in a random location on a road;

A large white haired man stopped walking in the direction of Konoha for a second and looked into the sky.

"I don't know why… but I suddenly feel proud of my god-son… He must have finally embraced the ways of the pervert… I MIGHT NOT HAVE CORRUPTED YOU MINATO BUT I GOT YOUR SON! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Not quite Jiraiya. Naruto is just very innocent.

-0-0-

-cave;

In a cave eight silhouettes appeared on the fingers of a massive stone humanoid.

"Kakuzu" a silhouette with rippled eyes boomed "what happened to Hidan? We got you him specifically so you couldn't get rid of him."

Kakuzu's silhouette grunted "I didn't get rid of him. Your brother's team is a real piece of work Itachi. While we were hunting for some bounties we ran into them. They killed Hidan to death and got four of my hearts."

If one paid close attention and if Itachi's collar wasn't covering his mouth you would see it twitch.

"Mmm this is troubling." The silhouette with the rippled eyes said "We won't be able to find you another partner. Everyone train yourselves, I don't want to lose any more people before we start the hunt for Jinchuriki. Kakuzu for now you will stay alone unless I can find someone suitable to be your partner. In three and a half years we will meet ba-"

"Excuse me leader-sama" intoned Itachi's voice.

"What is it Itachi. You usually don't speak up unless it is important."

"I have… sources that tell me that Orochimaru will be invading Konoha during the Chunin exams. I wish to go there so I may finish him off and scout out the Kyubi Jinchuriki."

"Now hold on." A gruff voice sounded out from a hunchback silhouette "Why should you be the one to off Orochimaru? He was my partner."

"It is not a matter of who should or shouldn't but a matter of can or can't. I can infiltrate Konoha without alerting anyone to my presence while any Shinobi worth his salt would be watching you the moment you entered Konoha."

The hunchback silhouette grunted in affirmation acknowledging Itachi's point. The silhouette with rippled eyes nodded "Very well. Itachi and Kisame, you will both go to Konoha during the Chunin exams and end Orochimaru. Please return the ring if you can find it, we cannot have lose ends ."

-0-0-

"So looks like we are headed to Konoha Itachi. Looking forward to seeing your family again?" Kisame said with a grin and he stood up.

Itachi had no outward reaction then a slight twitch of the lips

'_Sasuke… Naruto… how have you grown?'_

-0-0-

-Sunagakure;

A man with a veil covering his face and the Kazekage hat looked out the window at his sandy village.

The Kazekage sighed as the daimyo once again rejected his request for more funding. The wind daimyo was slowly choking the life out of Suna, outsourcing jobs to Konoha. If the daimyo didn't change his mind soon then Suna would have no choice but to accept…

-0-0-

Gaara grinned as his crushed another man and felt his life blood steep into his sand. Soon he would go to the Chunin exams and there he would have plenty of opportunities to prove his existence. He didn't even note the terrified presence of his siblings.

-0-0-

-hidden sound;

In an underground layer a figure rested on a throne. He had yellow snake-like eyes and long black hair.

"Orochimaru-sama I have news you might find interesting." A bespectacled man with white hair said.

Orochimaru the traitorous snake Sannin smirked "Oh what is it that I would find so interesting."

"According to rumors Sasuke-kun's team was able to take down a member of Akatsuki and near mortally wound the other."

At this Orochimaru's smirk widened into a shit eating grin. "I suppose I might as well bring extra enzymes so I can mark all of them. After all it is not every day I find someone capable of taking down my old friends. Which ones did they off?"

"Hidan and Kakuzu"

Orochimaru's laugh echoed throughout his underground base.

-0-0-

As group and people around the world planned for the upcoming Chunin exams in Konoha, they all forgot to account for one thing.

No plan survives contact.

**AN: Ok I know this chapter is shorter then I usually do but I got it out faster so hey. You guys can consider this the prologue to the Chunin exams. I added two subtle spoilers and a bunch of pretty obvious ones. Ok time for Mangekyou explanation time. I think the way it works is that the three most powerful techniques of the Mangekyou (Susanoo, Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi) cause blindness, Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi in their respective eyes and Susanoo in both of them. The Rinnegan (as we are shown by Madara) CAN use the Mangekyou techniques. I think the thing that stops Nagato from using them is that apparently his Rinnegan aren't natural but implanted unlike Madara and in my story Naruto. I'm working on a Fate/Stay Night fic but I'll focus on this one. Next chapter we kick start the Chunin exams! Review and Favorite! Vote on my poll! Curse how summer is ending! And Review and Favorite again!**


	11. Chapter 10: An Unexpected Encounter

An unexpected encounter

-two months after last chapter;

Three figures walked down the road to Konoha

One had spikey bright red hair in a rough ponytail that went down to his mid back. He had on black Shinobi pants that went up to mid-shin, where they were bandaged off. He had a white T-shirt with a hood that had a swirl in the center and red flames on the edge of the sleeves. On one arm the forearm was completely bandaged up with a glove but the other arm was bare. His forehead protector was wrapped across his chest. The most notable trait about him would be his eyes, which were red with three tomoe around the pupil, or the massive cleaver like blade on his back.

The second figure was a bit more plan wearing the standard Konoha Chunin uniform except for a facemask that also covered his neck. What stood out was his gravity deifying silver hair and the scar that ran over his left eye, which was also red with three tomoe. (Basically the same as normal but his left eye is uncovered)

The last was wearing a white zip-up T-shirt with a high collar with an Uchiha fan on the back. He was wearing black Shinobi pants and his forehead protector was fastened around his waist along with a sash. He too had the Sharingan but only in his right eye. His left eye was just red with no pupil. (His outfit in Shippuden minus the Orochimaru rope)

"So how do you think Sakura is getting used to the gift you gave her?" Sasuke asked his two companions.

Naruto grinned "She's almost completely got the hang of it. We have a week before the Chunin Exams so we should be able to get some practice in either way. From what she's told me she could probably kick your ass in a pure Taijutsu match."

Sasuke frowned before he let out a trademark Uchiha grunt "Hn. You wouldn't do much better. She nearly punched clean through the ribcage of your Susanoo in our last team spar a week ago."

Kakashi nodded as he turned another page of his Icha Icha "It's a good that I called in that favor from Gai so that he would help teach Sakura some Taijutsu. She's really improved since she graduated from the academy."

"I just hope that she doesn't get a bowl haircut and start wearing spandex from spending too much time around Lee or Gai-sensei." Naruto said with a shiver

Kakashi put his hand on his chin in thought "I agree with you on the haircut part. In a few years when she fills out the spandex might not be so bad…" Kakashi trailed off as Sasuke nodded sagely.

Naruto frowned and turned to his companions "What's wrong with you two? Stop being so perverted!"

"**All beings are perverts. Some just hide it better than others." **A voice resonated from within his mind.

'_Hey! I'm not a pervert!' _was Naruto's indignant reply.

Another voice chuckled _'That epic nose bleed you had two months back begs to differ.'_

As Naruto's face lit up the Kyubi growled at the sword spirit **"I still don't appreciate how you did that by the way. It felt weird and you know my body is still sensitive since I haven't been in a human form since I became a Biju."**

'_Oh come now Kyubi-chan you know you enjoyed it.' _Kubi purred in a seductive voice

Sasuke and Kakashi shared a look and chuckled as they saw Naruto blush like a school girl. One day they would corrupt him. It was just a matter of time. Deciding to show some mercy to the poor flustered boy Kakashi decided to change the topic. "So you both knew I planned on entering you into the Chunin Exams in a week. Make sure to stick together and I'm sure you will all pass with flying colors."

Naruto grinned "So are we close enough yet?"

Kakashi closed his left eye before he nodded. Putting his hands on his Genin's shoulders all three men disappeared in a swirling vortex

-0-0-

Arriving at Training Ground Seven in a swirl of distorted space the trio was greeted by Haruno Sakura. At some point during the last two months Sakura had changed her outfit now wearing a top similar to what she had on before but ended at her waist. Under that she was wearing bike shorts and had a skirt on. (Her outfit in the second part of canon) "Welcome back boys. How was your trip?"

"It was great Sakura-chan! We did what we set out to do and more dattebayo!" Naruto said with a grin.

Sakura shook her head having gotten used to the energetic red head "So I'm guessing you're signing us up for the Chunin exams in a couple days Kakashi-sensei?"

The masked man nodded "On that note I should head over. The meeting started five minutes ago. I'll see you all later." Kakashi waved as the air around him distorted and he disappeared.

"Tch showoff." Sasuke muttered as he crossed his arms before he turned to his team "So you guys want to grab something to eat?" Sakura nodded but Naruto frowned

"You guys go ahead. I'm going to go check something out."

As their third team mate disappeared with a Shunshin Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other and shrugged before heading out.

It didn't even occur to either of them how they were basically on a date

-0-0-

Sarutobi Konohamaru was running from his tutor Ebitsu. The man would always refer to him as honorable grandson and always said to concentrate on the basics. So Konohamaru was hiding from him. Not paying attention to what was in his path Konohamaru ran into something and fell on his butt.

"Ow ow ow…" Konohamaru said rubbing his bottom before he was picked up by the scruff of his shirt.

"Hey you little brat! You ran into me!"

"Oh My God it's a giant cat!" Konohamaru said with wide eyes. Said giant cat grit his teeth and was about to punch the brat when he felt someone's hand wrap around his wrist

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Kankuro and Temari both looked to see Naruto standing to the side of Kankuro '_I didn't even sense him!' _were Kankuro's thoughts.

Temari's thoughts were more along the lines of _'ooh what do we have here…'_

Naruto had come here when he felt a large Chakra signature after exiting Kakashi's Kamui **(Authority of the Gods). **The only person with reserves that big would be a Jinchuriki so Naruto decided to leave Sasuke and Sakura to their little date to check it out. Upon arriving he took note of the red head sitting in the tree before he moved to stop the Sandaime's grandson from getting punched out.

Kankuro grunted and shook the kid's hand off "I was just going to teach the brat a lesson."

Naruto shook his head with a sigh "I don't think it's a good idea to 'teach' the Hokage's grandson a lesson in the middle of a street."

Kankuro instantly paled and dropped Konohamaru, who immediately jumped back up and hook his fist at the oddly dressed Suna Shinobi "That's right you big bully! Back off before I tell on you to my gran- OW!" Konohamaru grabbed his head after Naruto had bopped him on the head

"Hey what did you do that for?!"

"You were being a brat. If you want to step out of your grandfather's shadow stop using his name for everything. Now get out of here."

Whether or not he knew it Naruto's words would forever change Konohamaru's life, but this story isn't about the little ankle bitter so he just hurried along.

Naruto kept glaring at the Suna Shinobi. While he often didn't use his 'serious' glare when he did his Sharingan really worked well. His eyes flickered to the tree. "Who's your friend?"

A swirl of sand later and in front of Naruto, Gaara appeared. Naruto knew that the boy in front of him was a Jinchuriki but he didn't know which.

"**It is probably the Ichibi. The tanuki always did have a habit of trying to drive any one around him insane."**

If one could see behind Gaara's sand armor they would have been terrified at the expression. It was one of blood thirst; Gaara could feel the power the boy in front of him had. Killing him would definitely prove his existence. "You… you are strong." due to his sand armor Gaara's face seemed to have a stoic expression "What is your name."

"… Uchiha Uzumaki Naruto…" Naruto answered hesitantly. He had heard the stories from Sakura but seeing it up close was even worse than he could have expected. Gaara had been shunned to the point that the Ichibi's Jinchuriki believed he could prove his existence by killing other people. It chilled him to the bone that he could have become like that if he weren't adopted by the Uchiha's.

"Uchiha Uzumaki Naruto…" Gaara said before his face split into a blood thirsty grin "killing you will prove my existence. I look forward to spilling your blood for mother!" The killing intent Gaara was radiating seemed to amplify at that point causing both of his siblings to step back. Naruto however just stood his ground sending his own killing intent at Gaara which seemed to cause the insane boy's grin to widen further. It seemed as though they were about to start fighting until both Jinchuriki felt a hand on their heads.

"Now now children no fighting until the Chunin exams start." Kakashi said with an eye smile but you could still hear the steel in his voice. Both Jinchuriki unconsciously took a step back at the sudden appearance of the masked man "Ka-Kakashi-sensei… I thought you were at the Jonin's meeting."

The silver haired man's response was to stop eye smiling and open his eyes "I was. I have the forms and I was coming to find you and the rest of your team when I felt your killing intent from half a mile away." That caused the sand-nin to pale even more. The kid's sensei seemed to somehow be able to teleport. When Kakashi turned to them the Sabaku siblings all unconsciously took a step back, including Gaara "I would appreciate if you were to not antagonize my student. If you want to rip each other limb from limb that's fine but please wait until the exams where it won't become an international incident." Kakashi's Sharingan seemed to glow, and even though it looked the same as Naruto's, it seemed to somehow make them feel smaller and powerless "is that ok?" Kakashi said turning to the suna nin who were now close to shitting their pants. They rapidly nodded and not wanting to show their fear walked away as fast as they could.

"That was mean Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto said with a pout. He had the situation handled.

Kakashi just smiled and rubbed Naruto's messy red hair before handing him a paper "I'm going to give Sakura and Sasuke's theirs later. Wouldn't want to interrupt their date after all." The Jonin let out a little perverted giggle at that. Even Naruto grinned as he took the paper.

"Don't let them catch you saying that…" Naruto said as Kakashi warped away. Standing up Naruto began walking back to his room in the Uchiha district. He hadn't had a good sleep in a long time.

-0-0-

-Ichiraku's ramen stand;

"So how far did you and Naruto get with your training? From how Kakashi-sensei is just teleporting around I'm guessing he finished his." Sakura said as she and Sasuke were eating at Ichiraku's Ramen

Sasuke slurped up his noodles as he nodded "Naruto didn't quiet finish what he wanted to do but he ended up finishing something else up. As for me…" Sasuke just smirked as an orb of black fire appeared in his right hand. "So how was your training? I'm sure you weren't just powdering your nose for the last week."

The pink haired kunoichi's response was to touch his shoulder and cause it to go limp "Gai-sensei really helped me with my Taijutsu but I still want to do medical Jutsu. It's just too bad that the programs in the hospital aren't as good as they ought to be. I've been experimenting with the super strength technique that Tsunade-sama of the Sannin use. I think I have the basic idea down I'd like to smooth out the finer points at some point."

"Cool… so you mind fixing my arm?"

-0-0-

-Naruto's mindscape;

The sound of steel meeting steel rang out continuously as sparks flew. Both combatants were wielding what looked like a large butcher knife, although one was longer than the other. A beautiful woman in a kimono was wielding the longer butcher knife with one arm and was completely beating the other person, a boy with spikey red hair.

Naruto grunt as he overextended on one of his swings and was sent flying with a smack to the face with a side of a blade. Skidding to a stop he wiped the blood from his nose and twisted it back into place "Are you sure there isn't a less painful way of doing this?" he whined. The training sessions with the Kubikiribocho amounted to him getting the crap beat out of him continuously. He had been getting better each time, being able to last longer against the ancient sword spirit, but he still was getting his ass kicked like no tomorrow most of the time due to how much more experienced the spirit was. Not to mention most of the strikes that would have killed him were all aimed at his head and even though she used the side of the blade to hit him it still hurt.

Swinging her blade onto her shoulder Kubi let out a sigh. Naruto tried to act more mature on the outside, but in his mind he was more than fine with acting his age. "I told you, I can't train you in my personal style because our body types are just too different, you're built more for speed and quick strikes, while my build is more flexible and meant for single strike take downs. What I can do however is train your reflexes and natural instincts. Now get back up and stop whining."

Grumbling about 'sadistic sword spirits' Naruto got back up and took his stance. "Hey you said my body was more designed for quicker strikes and speed?" Naruto said while looking at his blade. When he received a nod in return Naruto put his hand on his chin "Hey is there a way for me to make you any thinner?"

Kubi began giggling and shook her head "Naruto-kun remember what I said about watching what you say. Most women don't like it when you say that about their body." It was something of a bad habit of his. Naruto would sometimes say things that could be interpreted many different ways and it was always entertaining to watch him try to bumble over an apology afterwards if someone called him on it.

"Ah no your body is great! Er no I don't mean that er well I uh gah." Naruto stammered out as his face turned red before turning a glare on the chuckling sword spirit. "You know what I mean." The sword spirit would often tease the twelve year old boy, because of how he reacted like an innocent little boy. She would have also included the Kyubi but when she did the sentient mass of energy turned human had no idea what Kubi was talking about and would just stare at her with a blank look on her face.

Kubi stopped giggling and shook her head "You can make it bigger like what I can do but other than removing the segments on the handle you can't make it any lighter."

Naruto sighed and scratched the back of his head "I hope I grow into this things size then." Naruto said holding up the Decapitating Carving Knife up with some difficulty.

"**Will you two please keep it down? I'm trying to sleep."**

Two heads turned towards the voice until one abruptly turned red and turned away while the other had an entertained smirk. Laying there in all her naked glory was the Kyubi no Yoko in the same position as she would her fox form causing her breasts to mash up against the floor in a rather attractive manner.

Smiling Kubi waved at the now awake Kyubi "Hello Kyubi-san. Have your breasts gotten bigger?"

The Kyubi frowned **"No they have not. Why do you insist on asking me that?"**

"No reason."

Screwing his eyes shut Naruto turned in the Kyubi's general direction "Can you please put some cloths on?! Or at least do that thing where you wrap your tails around yourself!?"

Wrapping her tails around her in a manner similar to a blanket the humanized Biju scoffed **"Hmph I do not understand why you insist on me wearing these constraining things you humans call cloths. Though I suppose it might be due to these 'breasts' that the male, and some female, members of your species find aesthetically pleasing. My fox form had no breasts and people would be more concerned about me destroying them rather than covering my skin."**

"Technically your skin was covered in your human form because of your fur." Naruto pointed out now able to look the Kyubi in the eye without getting an eyeful of… other things.

"**I suppose." **The Kyubi grumbled before she put her head on her arms and closed her eyes

Naruto turned to Kubi who had an oddly contemplative look on her face "What is it?"

Kubi narrowed her eyes and for a second Naruto thought something might have been wrong with the Kyubi before the sword spirit opened her mouth "I'm sure her breasts are larger than the last time we were here. You saw them, what do you think."

Naruto proceeded to face palm and as he exited his mindscape wondering if having a pervert and an exhibitionist in his head made him a pervert by default.

He came to the conclusion that it probably did.

-0-0-

-the next day:

Naruto was bored and walking down the street. He couldn't find Sakura, Kakashi was off doing whatever it was Kakashi did during his spare time (probably reading porn) and it was Sasuke's time of the month. When he broads about his family, not in a female sense. After all the other fic is the one where Sasuke is female. Naruto abruptly stopped wondering where that thought came from before deciding to consult his tenants on what to do. Unblocking the mental link he heard something he would have rather not

'_LET ME TOUCH YOUR BOOBS!' _was heard along with what sounds like the sounds of a scuffle

"**Keep your hands away from me sword spirit! What is your malfunction!?"**

'_YOUR BOOBS GOT BIGGER! I KNOW THEY DID! NOW LET. ME. TOUCH. YOUR. BOOOOOBS!'_

"**Get off of m- KYAAAAA!"**

Naruto then blocked the mental link and filed the memory of Kyubi's 'kyaaa'ing in the very back corners of his mind along with his eleventh birthday and the time Sasuke accidently got drunk, used his Sharingan to copy Naruto's Sexy Jutsu and then he tried to…

So busy with his mental filing Naruto didn't notice the puddle of water in front of him. Slipping in said puddle Naruto fell face first…

…into someone's breasts.

-0-0-

-Hokage tower at around the same time;

"Ah Raikage-dono I welcome you to Konoha. I do believe this is the first time we have actually met face to face." Sarutobi Hiruzen said as an extremely muscled, dark skinned man with cropped blond hair sat in the chair in front of him.

"Hokage-dono I thank you for allowing me to come to the Chunin exams. I know our villages haven't had the best relationship due to the warmongering of my late father and his council. Thankfully due to the Kumo incident I had the excuse I needed to finally kick them out of their seats. However I do hope that you don't mind how I brought Kumo's two Jinchuriki. One of them I see as my own brother and I hoped the other could finally meet her fiancée. She has been really excited to meet him." Said A with a short bow

"I understand completely. I see Konoha's Jinchuriki as a grandson and I would feel the very same. I think He has also been very excited to meet his fiancée too."

A few moments passed in silence

"So you haven't told him?" A said with a sweat drop

"Have you told her?" Sarutobi countered

"Nope." Replied A with no shame whatsoever

-0-0-

-back with Naruto;

Time seemed to freeze. Despite how Naruto wasn't moving his mind still continued to compile information. Such as how the person in front of him had Jinchuriki level reserves and smelled of cat nip. He also noted that her breasts and the blouse she was wearing were very soft. Finally he noted that he breasts where maybe a low D or high C cut and that she wasn't wearing a bra… and then cursing his god father for how he was able to determine that.

"So would you like to get your face out of my breasts?" Came an irritated voice from above him.

Naruto wasn't sure why. Maybe it was puberty finally hitting him as the Kyubi had said, maybe it was because he was still dazed from almost falling, maybe it was his god father's presence in the village corrupting him, maybe it was just him saying out loud what he was thinking, but instead of saying something along the lines of 'yes I am so sorry' he said this

"Not really. Your breasts are very soft."

The silence was so engulfing that you could hear a pin drop.

'_What in the hell!?' _was all Naruto was able to think before he heard a scream and a clawed hand slap him across the face, scratching him and sending him into a nearby stall.

"Whoa whoa Yugito wasn't that a bit harsh? He was just a kido!" Killer Bee rapped to the side of the steaming Jonin.

Whirling around she turned a glare on the Hachibi Jinchuriki Yugito had a small blush on her face "Shut up Bee. Not only did he stuff his face in my chest, but he even had the nerve to say they were soft!"

Omoi, who had been trying to make himself as small as possible behind Samui, decided to poke his head out "In his defense he slipped and fell into your breasts and they do look soft…" Samui just shook her head as Omoi dug his own grave.

"Ow…" a voice echoed from the ruined cart as a hand pulled itself out from underneath the ruble. The boy seemed relatively unharmed except for four claw marks on his cheek.

Bee walked over to help the poor kid out. He had been on the receiving end of plenty of Yugito's slaps and those nails hurt. "Here here little guy. I know those hurt don't be shy."

"Thanks for the help… weird rapping-ojisan." Naruto said as he was helped out of the ruble. The Kumo nin, minus Killer Bee, all sweat dropped at the boy's name for Bee.

"You ok kid? Need us to take you to a hospital or something?" Samui called out, ignoring Karui throttling Omoi behind her.

"Na I'm fine." Naruto smudging the blood in his cheek to show perfectly healed skin. At the same time Naruto's eyes saw the plates on the Shinobi's headbands.

'_Kumo!' _Naruto's eyes seemed to flash as he flipped back and took a stance with a giant sword materializing in his right hand. At the same time both of the Kumo Jinchuriki's eyes widened

"**Kyubi!" **a voice echoed inside Killer Bee's head.

'_What do you mean yo?'_

"**I didn't recognize it at first because it's seemed to have changed somehow and it's a lot stronger then before but now that I'm paying attention that's definitely the Kyubi's Chakra"**

At the same time a similar conversation was going on in Yugito's head

"**Kyubi-onee-sama!"**

'_What?'_

"**It's Kyubi-onee-sama! Her Chakra feels different but I can still tell that its' her!"**

Naruto was growling and seemed seconds from trying to use the giant butcher knife in his right hand to try to behead everyone in front of him. Even though the years had passed he still remembered his first encounter with a Kumo Shinobi all those years ago.

Killer bee was confused at the sudden animosity from the seemingly nice boy _'Yo Hachibi what's going on with Nine-o?'_

"**Kumo tried to kidnap him nine years ago you fool! It's the reason we had to sign a peace treaty with Konoha in the first place."**

That cleared things up. Childhood trauma was definitely something you didn't get over for a long time. _'I see… he must not have heard about the alliance with Kumo…' _Killer Bee thought, not rapping because he knew how serious it was. Holding his hands up in a placating gesture Bee tried to give his best comforting smile. "Hey there we don't mean no harm. Guessing from your reaction I'm guessing you didn't hear about the peace treaty between Kumo and Konoha. We aren't here to hurt you."

That just seemed to agitate Naruto more. The boy seemed right about to try to jump on them in the middle of the street. "How can I trust you?"

Killer Bee put his hands down and seemed to think for a second, his face becoming neutral. A few moments passed in silence before "Only a sacrifice would know what it feels like to be one."

Naruto's eyes widened momentarily before his stance became more relaxed "So you two are…"

The Hachibi Jinchuriki looked at the Nibi Jinchuriki before they both nodded.

Sighing Naruto scratched the back of his head and dispelled his sword "Ah… you guys must be here for the Chunin exams… my bad… uhh how about I show you around the village to make it up to you guys?" Naruto said putting on a friendly smile.

The Nibi Jinchuriki shrugged "Sure why not. I got nothing to do, but keep your hands away from me."

"Sorry I gota go check in with my bro, maybe some other time yo." Killer Bee rapped before be jumped off.

"And we have to take this fool to a hospital before he bleeds out." Samui said holding up an extremely beaten and swollen Omoi before she and Karui disappeared in a lightning Shunshin.

Naruto turned to the cat like girl who was still glaring at him."Heh heh… looks like it's just you and me… for what it's worth I'm sorry about earlier. I honestly don't know what happened there." That was a lie. He did know what was happening. It was the fact that just about every adult figure in his life was a pervert, that's what was happening.

That seemed to be enough for Yugito to stop glaring at him "Fine… just make sure it doesn't happen again got it?" When Naruto nodded they both set out to see the sights around Konoha.

-0-0-

A was exiting the Hokage tower when he heard someone land behind him. "Yo yo how's it goin bro?" and judging from the horrid rapping it was his brother. "So where are Yugito and your team?" the Raikage asked used to Bee's antics.

"My teams in the hospital getting Omoi patched, poor boy pissed Karui off with a perverted joke he hatched. Kitty Kat is seeing the sights with Nine-o, hope they don't cause to much trouble yo" Bee rapped as he walked alongside his brother before taking out a small book and writing in it. "By the way bro... You going to tell Yugito that she's engaged yo?"

The Raikage coughed indignantly "Of course. I'm just waiting for the right moment." Even though he was the Raikage, A had still been on his fair share of Yugito's nail enhanced slaps, but he wasn't scared of the Nibi Jinchuriki reaction to finding out she had a fiancée

Not one bit.

-0-0-

'_What the hell is going on?!' _Naruto thought as he was trapped under Yugito's naked body. The tour had started relatively normal; Naruto had shown Yugito around, telling her about the best restaurants (that were run by Shinobi that didn't show any bias towards him for being a Jinchuriki of course) and showing her his favorite spots around the village. Then they had gotten stuck in their current position.

-0-0-

-about 10 minutes ago;

"And this is the best onsen in Konoha." Naruto said. He had shown Yugito around town and after getting some lunch Yugito asked if Konoha has any good onsens that she could relax in. As both Naruto and Yugito walked in Naruto noted that the men's side was closed down for maintenance. Shrugging Naruto was about to go tell Yugito that he was leaving when a voice stopped him

"Naruto-chan! It's been so long how have you been?" an elderly woman said. Madam Yukari was a retired Shinobi and was one of the few civilians in the village Naruto liked. Two of the reasons the elderly lady liked Naruto so much was because he would always bust his God father when he was peeping on the woman's side and that she had known both of his parents and immediately recognized the boy when he had come in with the Uchiha's one day.

"Ah Yukari-obachan!" Naruto said scratching the back of his head "I'm doing well, just relaxing a bit before the Chunin exams. I was about so head home since the male side is closed."

"Don't worry about it Naruto-chan, why don't you just go in the female side?"

Naruto immediately blushed deeply "Wh-what but I can't there is already someone in there!"

The elderly lady just waved off his concerns "Don't worry about it Naruto-chan, if they call you a pervert I'll vouch for you. Plus I bet no one is going to be coming today!"

"B-b-b-but!"

Madam Yukari ignored his protests and pushed him into the females side of the onsen

-0-0-

"Ahhh this is so nice." Yugito though at she relaxed in hot water. Now that she had stopped to actually think about it, coming to Konoha was the first time she had actually had a break for a long time. Many people aren't already Jonin by the time they are sixteen, and combine that with how she had to train to control her Biju's Chakra and you get someone with virtually no personal life. Something her Biju made sure to remind her of multiple times while she was with Naruto.

"Um… I'm coming in?" a voice weakly said from the entrance revealing Naruto with a towel wrapped around his waist and his seal on full display on his stomach.

"What are you doing here?!" Yugito said reacting quickly and covering her chest.

"I was going to go back home since the male side is not available but the lady that owns the place knows me and told me that it was fine if I came over to this side before she pushed me in." Naruto said comedic tears running down his eyes.

Yugito sighed. She couldn't really call him a pervert as the boy seemed to be only twelve years old. From what she had seen around town Naruto knew all the civilians that treated him nicely on a personal level and the lady that owned this onsen was probably no different. "Fine fine just don't look in my direction."

Nodding Naruto got in and slightly bowed his head closing his eyes. After a while Yugito noticed that the boy's seal wasn't going away "Hey Naruto? Why isn't the seal on your stomach fading? I thought they are supposed to become invisible when we aren't using Chakra."

"That's because of my eyes. You remember how they had those tomoe surrounding the pupil?"

"Yeah what about it?"

"My eyes are from a bloodline called the Sharingan, a Dojutsu. Mine aren't natural, their implanted so I can't turn them off and they constantly drain my Chakra."

Yugito nodded. She along with just about everyone on the Elemental Nations had heard about the Uchiha Massacre "I was wondering what they did with all of those special eyes of theirs."

Naruto frowned "No there are only three people in Konoha with the Sharingan including myself. The Sharingan takes so much Chakra that only people with Biju size reserves could keep two of them active all day. My sensei has only one but he probably has more Chakra then the Hokage right now."

"What about the third person?"

"His is nat-"Naruto was cut off when he heard the sound of footsteps and sensed several Chakra signatures. Chunin level signatures that were all headed in the direction of the female section of the hot springs. Eyes opening in a panic Naruto tried to hide "Shit! There are kunoichi coming! If they find me here they'll kill me or worse!"

"What could be worse than killing you?" Yugito asked with a raised eyebrow

A shiver ran down Naruto's spine "The last time I was caught in the female baths I was seven years old and that was because I was here with my adopted mother. When the kunoichi began coming in they kept gushing over how cute I was and suffocating me." Yugito couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at the horror stricken look on Naruto's face.

Sighing Yugito shook her head "Come over here and hide behind me."

"What?!" Naruto said his face blushing

"It's either that or marshmallow hell." Yugito said with an amused smile on her face. The boy was kind of cute now that she had a good look at him.

Grumbling while still blushing up to his ears Naruto hide behind Yugito as the kunoichi began to come in.

-0-0-

-present time;

Naruto was running out of air. He had to hide underwater due to how very obvious his bright red hair was and to that end Yugito ended up sitting on his shoulder. The warmth he felt on his shoulder was just making his struggle to stay conscious even harder. Trying to find a more comfortable position Naruto shifted his shoulder. The low throaty moan Yugito let out was too much for the twelve year old and with blood coming from his nose he fell unconscious.

-0-0-

-just outside the onsen;

Jiraiya couldn't help but cry manly tears as the naked kunoichi fussed over his unconscious god son. Unlike him who was beaten mercilessly when he was caught in a perverted situation, more often than not Naruto would be treated like a victim of the circumstances. What he would do to lay in those heavenly pillows Naruto was being smothered in right now as the females in the onsen fussed over the unconscious boy.

-0-0-

-the next day Konoha hospital;

"Ugh… what hit me?" Naruto said waking up to a white ceiling. Judging by the smell of antiseptics he was in the hospital. The last thing he remembered was going into the onsen and…

Naruto blushed a deep red as he remembered the events that led up to him falling unconscious. He made a note to apologize to Yugito later. Looking around he noticed the other person in the room. "What are you doing here Sasuke?"

Said duck haired boy grunted "you've been unconscious for a day. It's the day before the Chunin exams."

Nodding Naruto got out of bed "I'll go change. Meet in front of the gate?"

Sasuke nodded before he got up, wearing all black.

-0-0-

-Uchiha district, Naruto's room;

Naruto took off his hospital gown and slipped on a black sweater and pants. Tying his headband around his neck Naruto looked at the items on his dresser. First was a picture of five people, his adopted family. The second was a tri pronged Kunai. When he had figured out the identity of his father he had asked the Sandaime for a memento for his room. The Sandaime gave him one of his father's infamous Hiraishin Kunai. When he asked the old man if it was ok to give someone like him something so important Sarutobi just laughed telling him that the Hiraishin wasn't his father's original Jutsu and all Hiraishin seals are unique to each user. Naruto had placed a preservation seal on the kunai so it could always be something to remember his father by as he no longer had the Yondaime's sky blue eyes. The third item was a hunter-nin mask, a reminder of his weakness during the Wave mission. Leaving the compound Naruto saw Sasuke with two bundles of flowers. Nodding Sasuke handed one to Naruto and they both set out to the Konoha graveyard.

-0-0-

-Konoha Graveyard;

It was somewhat of a ritual for Naruto and Sasuke to visit their family's graves before something big. They had visited before their graduation exams, they had visited before their first C-rank and now they were visiting before the Chunin exams. They both visited the graves of Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Fugaku, Sasuke laying down his set of flowers, before Sasuke left and Naruto went to visit his other parents…

-0-0-

-outside the village Uzumaki store house;

"Hey… Tou-san… Kaa-san…" Naruto said as he sat in front of two pictures of his parents with incense burning. Naruto had created this small shrine a few months ago when he had found out the identity of his father. He was the only one who knew about this place as not even Sasuke had been here. Placing the bundle of flowers he was holding in between the pictures Naruto sat cross legged with his hands on his feet. "Sorry I hadn't really visited… but I didn't really know who my father was until a few months ago and it seemed kind of rude to only have a shrine for my mother and not my father heh…"

Closing his eyes and slightly bowing his head Naruto thought about what he wanted to say. "Kaa-san… it looks like I got your red hair… people who knew you said I also got your personality… don't worry about our clan because I plan on rebuilding the Uzumaki Clan alongside the Uchiha Clan Dattebayo!" Naruto said clenching a fist before he seemed to wilt "Ahh… that's right… I forgot… for some reason the Uchiha's all had to be killed… including Mikoto-kaasan and Fugaku-tousan… they adopted me when I was three years old…"

"Tou-san… I don't really know what to say… I mean it's great that my father was so famous so I guess I have a lot to live up to you know… I'll do my best to make you and Kaa-san proud…"

Naruto closed his eyes and sat there as the day slowly passed into night. He was about to get up to leave when he felt something shift in the air. Eye's snapping alert Naruto jumped up and began looking around before a ghostly voice reached his ears.

"_**It has been a while since one of your clan has been in my presence… young Uzumaki…"**_

-0-0-

-the next day;

Sasuke and Sakura were waiting impatiently in front of the Chunin exam building. The exams were starting in an hour and they couldn't find Naruto anywhere.

"I swear to god if that idiot is late I'm going to pound him into next week." Sakura said cracking her knuckles. Grunting his agreement Sasuke narrowed his eyes. It wasn't like Naruto to be late to anything and he hadn't returned home last night.

"Hey guys sorry I'm late!" a voice said in the distance. Turning their heads Sakura and Sasuke both saw a slightly pale Naruto running up to them with his form in hand.

Sakura spun around towards the red head and put her hands on her hips "Where were you? We looked all over for you and apparently you didn't go home last night either."

Chuckling Naruto scratched the back of his head. He had slight bags under his eyes telling his team that he didn't get as much sleep as he would have liked to last night.

"It doesn't matter for now. Right now we have to go enter the exams. Naruto are you ready?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah I'm ready. Sorry I just over slept…" Naruto said as he and his team entered the building.

Neither Sakura nor Sasuke noticed the fading seals on Naruto's right arm.

-0-0-

**AN: and done! Sorry this one took so long. I got distracted with writing a fem Sasuke story that I will update every now and then. I mean ffs Naruto would make so much more sense if either Naruto or Sasuke was a female and well since it's called Naruto the main character would have to be a guy… anyway yeah it will probably have a happy ending with a NarutoxfemSasuke pairing. That Naruto and Satsuki will probably be making cameo's in every other one of my fics (lol). Who wants to guess what voice Naruto heard in the Uzumaki Storage room? Next chapter will be the first and part of the second exams. I'll get it out a lot faster than this chapter _. Review and Favorite! Curse how summer is ending! Vote on my poll, if I end up modify the Rinnegan powers wins I'll probably let you guys choose which ones I change! And Review and Favorite again!**

**Review Q&A (WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS) not many people actually asked me anything (v_)'**

**Edengrave: Nope only Naruto's getting Rinnegan in my story. What gave him it was Uzumaki genes + Mangekyou Sharingan + Kyubi Chakra**


	12. Chapter 11: A Snake in the Forest

"Wow… everyone here is kinda weak…"

This statement seemed to echo throughout the gathering room. Heads turned to the one who had said it, a red headed boy who was standing alongside a pink haired girl and a black haired boy.

"Hn. Your right, it should be a clean sweep."

The black haired one seemed to smirk as the killing intent the people in the room were trying to send.

"Now now Naruto, Sasuke-kun stop antagonizing the other participants. I'm sure their villages have reasons for sending canon folder to the Chunin exams.

In the voice the pink haired one had used you couldn't help but believe her, many teams grit their teeth and looked away but many other teams wanted a fight… but the rather psychotic looks Naruto and Sasuke were sending their way, complete with glowing Sharingan, made them change their mind.

This was the 'plan' that Naruto had come up with at the last second. Basically the idea was to piss off all the other contestants so that they would come to them. They had spent two months training, only able to spar. Naruto and Sasuke wanted to let loose and even Sakura felt a little stir crazy.

"That's quite the bold declaration Naruto-san."

Turning his head Naruto was met with the smirking face of Hyuga Neji. Team Seven and Team Nine both knew each other fairly well, due to Tenten being one of the few people in the orphanage who would stick up for him before he was adopted (He also trained with her a lot to improve his aim with his Chakra weapons when they were little) and having met Neji, due to him often being Hinata's bodyguard. Neji was a bit of a fatalist but other than that he was a pretty cool guy. Sakura had been training with them over the last two months, getting her Taijutsu to a pretty good level.

"Hey Neji, how's it going panda-chan?" Naruto said nodding at Neji and waving at Tenten who was walking over.

Tenten smirked and crossed her arms "It's going well fishcake-kun. I'm surprised that your teams here. Gai-sensei wanted us to wait at least a year before we entered."

"I guess my team's just that much more awesome then yours." Naruto said grinning

"So where's bushy brows? He's usually running around and spouting things about youth by now." Naruto said noticing how there was a distinct lack of eyebrows in their little group.

"I took your advice and challenged him to see who could stay the longest time without saying something about youth. Lee's over there." Neji said pointing to a Lee who seemed to be writhing on the ground with his hands over his mouth.

"Wait… didn't you just lose the challenge?"

"I'm allowed to tell other people." Naruto nodded began chatting with Neji and Tenten about what they had been doing since he graduated

"Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke couldn't help but groan as the other half of his most annoying fan girls from the academy run up trying to glomp him. He side stepped the fan girls tackling hug sending her to the floor. "Hey Shikamaru, Chouji. So you're in this thing too?"

The eternally lazy boy and the eternally happy boy both nodded. Ignoring Ino's pout Sasuke noticed that Naruto had a dazed look on his face "Hey Naruto are you sure you're ok?"

Naruto blinked a couple times before he shook his head "Yeah I'm fine, don't worry." Rubbing his forehead Naruto noticed Hinata and her team and waved them over. However as Team Eight came closer Shino seemed to slow, as if he wanted to stop and Akamaru began barking and trying to get away from Naruto, who raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior "What's wrong guys?"

"My apologies Naruto-san… but it seems that the Chakra that you usually give off is too potent for my hives so I will have to keep a small distance…" Shino said. Kiba nodded "Yeah that's what Akamaru is saying too. Your Chakra feels like someone just poured ammonia onto his nose."

Scratching the back of his head Naruto chuckled "Yeah sorry about that guys… I really trained my bloodline a lot during the last few months so my Chakra probably got stronger…" Turning he noticed that Hinata didn't seem to have any problems "So are you ok Hinata-chan?"

The Hyuga Heiress chuckled "Of course Naruto-kun, however I must say, a few months ago your Chakra was light blue with a tint of purple. Now it's mostly deep blue with tints of purple. You must have been training a lot for your Chakra to compress so much."

"Yup Team Seven pretty much did nothing but train for the last two months! We are definitely guna sweep the exams Dattebayo!" Naruto said pumping his fist.

"You rookies should quiet down before you draw to much attention to you."

Nine sets of eyes turned to the speaker. He had a purple high color shirt with a white sash. His grey hair was in a ponytail and he had glasses "Hey my names Kabuto. You shouldn't draw so much attention to yourselves since you're just rookies. The Chunin exams are serious business."

"Oh and you're not a rookie?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow. Something was suspicious about this guy. Sasuke discreetly signaled Naruto to keep his Mind's Eye of the Kagura on Kabuto's Chakra to see if he lies.

Kabuto scratched the back of his head embarrassed "Nope. Actually this is my sixth try."

"I see." Sasuke said trying not to let his suspicion show "So the exams must be pretty hard huh?"

Naruto grinned "Or maybe he just sucks" he felt the flux of Kabuto's Chakra that told him that the supposed Konoha Genin was getting angry. Also it let Naruto, for a moment get a feel of Kabuto's real Chakra. He easily had Jonin level reserves. Naruto filed that away for future reference.

"I don't think I'm that bad. The Chunin exams are pretty rough you know." Kabuto said pushing up his glasses, causing the light to glint off them ominously.

'_It doesn't look like he's lying…' _Naruto thought before his thoughts were interrupted

"**Beware Naruto. Simply because he is not lying does not mean he is telling the truth."**

'_What do you mean Kyu-chan?'_

"… **Kyu-chan?"**

'_Yeah, I think it sounds cu-'_

"**No. First you degrade me to this human form. Then you demand that I cover myself in your presence and the sword spirit refuses to keep her accursed hands away from me. You will not address me as **_**Kyu-chan **_**or I will make you also experience these Rikudo forsaken cramps I have been getting every month. Are we clear**?"

'_uh-'_

"_**ARE WE CLEAR?!"**_Even though the Kyubi's voice was only in his head it seemed to echo throughout his ears.

'_HAI HAI KYUBI-SAMAAAAA!' _Naruto's voice seemed to shrink even though it was in his head. The Kyubi had been getting rather moody on a monthly basis. He honestly had no idea why though…

"**Ahem, as I was saying just because someone isn't lying doesn't mean that their telling the truth. It is actually fairly simple to make someone believe something by only telling them part of the truth and then letting them make a false assumption."**

'_What do you mean?'_

"**For example of I was to tell someone that you had two females in your head. They would assume that you were a pervert when there are in fact actually two females in your head."**

'… _that was just unnecessary"_

"**Felt necessary to me."**

Focusing on the outside world again he noticed that Kabuto was saying something about having information on people in card.

"So is there anyone you want to know about?" Kabuto said with a smile.

Neji stepped up "Sabaku no Gaara, Uchiha Sasuke… and Uchiha Uzumaki Naruto…"

"You already know their names. That's no fun." Kabuto said as he channeled Chakra to a card on the top before flipping it over.

"Let's see. Sabaku no Gaara. Team mates are his siblings Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Kankuro. He has eight C-rank and one B-rank missions. Apparently he didn't get a scratch on him during any of his missions… I don't have too much on him since he isn't from Konoha."

Kabuto put the card on the bottom of the deck before channeling Chakra to the top one and flipping it.

"Ok next is… Uchiha Sasuke. He is the last of the near extinct Uchiha clan. Team mates are his adopted brother Uchiha Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura. Is noted to have awakened his Sharingan before the academy but the exact time is unknown. Said to have high Chunin level Nin and Taijutsu with Chunin level Genjutsu and average Chakra reserves. He has twelve D-rank missions and… one S-rank mission." Kabuto finished with wide eyes.

"Ha if you think Sasuke is impressive you should check out my card!" Naruto boasted with crossed arms. Smirking Kabuto put Sasuke's card on the bottom of the deck "I think I'll do that." Kabuto said channeling Chakra and drawing a card.

"Uchiha Uzumaki Naruto. He is the only known member of the near extinct Uzumaki clan and has all three of the known Uzumaki bloodlines. Team mates are his brother Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sasuke. He possesses two implanted Sharingan with unknown origins. Said to have Chunin level Nin and Taijutsu with no known skill in Genjutsu. Has… the largest Chakra reserves recorded in the history of Konoha…"

The silence was stifling until it was interrupted by multiple puffs of smoke appearing in the front of the room "Quiet down maggots!" a voice echoed. The smoke cleared to reveal a line of Chunin and Morino Ibiki, the head of the I&T division. "I am Morino Ibiki, the proctor for the first exams! All of you get your sorry asses in a single file line before I toss them out of here. We will be drawing tickets for you seats before we begin the first part of the exams."

The Chunin hopefuls lined up and slowly drew their seats. After everyone had been seated the proctors began passing out exams, putting them on the desk face down. After everyone had gotten a paper Ibiki cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Alright maggots, here's how things are going to go. Listen closely because I will not repeat myself. In front of you is a nine question test. Each question is worth one point. By the end of the exams your team must have a total of five points. If you are caught cheating then you will lose two points and if anyone on your team's score drops below zero your team will be removed from the exam and finally if anyone on your team scores zero points then your team is automatically disqualified. You have fifty minutes to complete the exam and after the fifty minutes is up I will ask the tenth question. If you do not get the tenth question correct then you will automatically fail the exam. You may now begin."

Naruto flipped the paper over and began reading the questions. Each of them was something that no Genin would be able to answer unless they were REALLY smart. Frowning Naruto was about to use his Sharingan to copy someone else's answers like what he saw Sasuke doing but suddenly the answers entered his field of vision. Smirking Naruto copied down all the answers and flipped his answer sheet over before putting his head down to get some sleep

-0-0-

-forty minutes later;

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes Naruto yawned as Ibiki announced that he was about to give the tenth question. The sadist grinned seeing the Chunin hopefuls' looks of determination. It would just be that much sweeter when he broke them. "Ah yes… I forgot to mention one thing about this last question… Those that fail will never be able to take the Chunin exams and will be stuck as a Genin for the rest of their lives!"

There were the usual complaints and shouts of denial. Ibiki stood their soaking it all in "That's just too bad you got me as your exam proctor! Here I am GOD!" The sadist grinned as one by one the teams began leaving the room. Eventually there were about twenty teams left. "All right, anyone else quitting?" Another sweep across the room showed that all the remaining teams were staying. _'Twenty teams… I must be slipping…' _ "Then for all the remaining teams... y-"

"We pass."

Slowly turning his head Ibiki raised an eyebrow at the red headed boy with his chin on the table who just interrupted him "And what makes you say that? For all you know I could have just been about to fail all of you." _'I believe that boys name was… Uchiha Naruto…_

The boy just grinned so that his eyes made upside down U's "If I'm not willing to risk my career for a simple test-"

"-Then how would I able to risk my life on a mission" a boy with black hair finished with a smirk

"Isn't that right Morino-san." A girl with pink hair said with a smile

'_If memory serves me correctly then those brats are Kakashi's… how interesting.' _The head of the I&T department smiled "That's right. Those brats right there hit the nail right on its head. Sometimes a mission will be vital to your village and you will have to risk your lives. When lives and the safety of your village is at stake, failure is not an option. This exam wasn't to test your knowledge, it was meant to test your resolve! When failure means death do you crack or will you rise to the challenge? I am proud to say that all of you pa-" Ibiki was interrupted when something crashed through the window

While most of us know that it was the (lovable?) proctor of the second exam, none of the Genin in the room did. So to the eyes of Team Seven it was a potential attack from a hostile village. When Naruto and Sasuke burst from their seats to kick the potentially dangerous object back out the window Ibiki and the other Chunin proctors couldn't help but erupt in laughter.

Naruto seeing the imposing proctor of the first exam roaring in laughter couldn't help but ask "Uhh… did we miss something here?"

"Yes… yes you did brat."

Everyone in the room turned to the window to see Mitarashi Anko leaning into the window a little worse for ware and a tick mark on her head. "That was supposed to be my super cool entrance you know… and I'm the proctor for the second exam…"

Both Naruto and Sasuke flinched "In our defense…" Sasuke slowly began "Had that been a bundle of explosive tags we would all be dead."

All of the occupants of the room blinked, the boy had a point. If that was an attack by an enemy village the political ramifications would have been staggering. The proctors began glaring at Anko who just chuckled and scratched the back of her head. "Uhh right… heh anyway the next exams are at training ground forty four. Be there in fifteen minutes" when the strange lady left the examinees all just looked at each other and began moving to the next examination area.

-0-0-

-fifteen minutes later Training Ground Forty Four;

"Those are some big ass trees…" Naruto said with wide eyes, having reached the location of the second exam with his team.

'_Those trees are strong enough to withstand my normal fire release… but I'm going to have to be careful with Amaterasu __**(Illuminating Heaven)… **__otherwise I might burn the whole forest down…" _Sasuke thought

"Alright maggots! This is my home away from home, Training Ground Forty Four otherwise known as the Forest of Death! Here is where the second exam will be taking place." Anko declared having recovered some of her lost pride over the small time skip.

The scantily clad pulled out a stack of papers from… somewhere "Ok I'm going to need you all to sign these forms otherwise you are not going to be going any further in the Chunin exams. What these forms say is that anything that happens is not the responsibility of Konoha so if you die it sucks to be you!"

As Anko began to pass out the forms a certain Kusa nin was looking at Team Seven and licking her lips.

After the woman had collected the forms from everyone that was participating she grinned. "Ok let me give you some more details about the second exam. Teams will all be given one of two scrolls, a scroll of heaven or a scroll of earth. Your task is to reach the center of the Forest of Death within five days with both scrolls and all three members of your team alive and not dead."

"Five days!? What will we do for food?" Choji exclaimed

"There are plenty of edible flora and fauna in the forest. We will be passing out the scrolls and giving you a gate number. Once every team has been assigned a gate and given a scroll we will begin the exam."

As the teams lined up to receive their gate number and scroll Naruto was talking with his team mates

"So what do you guys think?" Naruto said. The objective of the exam was obviously to at least cut the number of participants in half. Not to mention most of the teams that they had provoked during the beginning of the Chunin exams had already been eliminated.

Sakura crossed her arms "I think this exam should be pretty easy for us. I mean we can just scout people out with Naruto's sensor and unless there is some super strong Shinobi looking for us we should be fine."

On the other side of the field Kusa Genin sneezed

"I think… what we should do is try to take out as many teams as we can before we enter the tower." Sasuke said causing both of his team mates to look at him oddly

"Why would we do that?" Naruto asked

"Think about it. This part of the exam is designed to test our survival skills. The last part was to test our resolve. The next exam will probably be combat. But from what I remember from Itachi-nii's exam Konoha usually markets the last portion of the exam. You wouldn't come all the way to Konoha from where ever you came from just to see people who have the resolve and know how to survive in the wild. They want to see combat abilities, Ninjutsu, Taijustu, Genjutsu. If there are too many participants in the end they might end up holding a preliminary to weed out the weaker ones."

"But wouldn't that be good?" Naruto interjected "More fights would give us more chances to show how strong we are."

Sasuke shook his head "I don't think it will be that simple. Even though it might not seem like it at times, the Chunin in this village do show some measure of leadership and tactical thinking. That's what I think the final round of the Chunin exams will come down to. Not only whether or not you win your matches but also your strategic planning."

Naruto still grinned and punched his fist into his palm "But if we were to kick everyone's ass I bet they would still promote us."

Sasuke grunted and smirked "Hn. Probably."

"So how are we going to do this? Are we just going to be hunting down teams indiscriminately or do we actually have targets?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke put his hand on his chin and closed his eyes in thought "Hmm… During Itachi-nii's exam there were twelve participants. Considering that if you get down to it, the final round of the Chunin exams are basically a show of a villages strength I think we should hunt down the non-Konoha teams. If the only teams that got into the final round of the Chunin exams were Konoha Shinobi it would make our village look really strong. Not to mention we already know most of the abilities of our allies so if nothing else we can let up a little to make them look better."

"Alright so that's the plan! I'm going to go get our scroll -tebayo!" Naruto said before he ran off towards the Chunin handing out the scrolls and the gate numbers leaving Sakura and Sasuke standing there.

"Hey Sasuke… earlier you said… Itachi-nii…" Sakura said

Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed "Right… me and Naruto never told you. On the night that Itachi-nii slaughtered our clan just before he left I saw him shed a single tear."

Sakura was surprised. She, like the majority of Konoha Shinobi, believed that Itachi was just a psychopath who murdered his clan. Sakura had figured out that Naruto and Sasuke had faked most of their personalities through the academy but she had always thought Sasuke's hatred for his brother was real.

"Since then… me and Naruto have slowly began uncovering things that make me believe that Itachi-nii was right in killing our clan… the reason we trained so hard is so that when we finally confront him we can get our answers… and if we are strong enough… get our brother back."

Sasuke then looked down and clenched his fist. "But the Wave mission… that showed us that we weren't anywhere near strong enough. The worst part is that we think that part of the reason that Itachi had to flee Konoha was because he was and is protecting us. Someone strong enough or high enough is Konoha's system is holding our lives over Itachi-nii's head forcing to stay away from the home he loves."

"That's why we have to get strong."

Sakura and Sasuke turned to Naruto who had a Heaven scroll. "Strong enough so that Itachi-nii can come home."

As Team Seven headed towards their designated gate they didn't notice four sets of eyes on them. Three of which belonged to the team from the Hidden Sound.

"So those are the ones Orochimaru-sama wants us to kill…"

However the other set of eyes were infinitely more ominous.

'_Sasuke-kun… Naruto-kun… Sakura-chan… show me your power!'_

The signal to start was given and all the teams dashed into the Forest of Death.

-0-0-

-inside the Forest of Death;

Two Genin from Ame, Daisuke and Hachiro were freaking out. They had just entered the Forest of Death went suddenly a chain shot out from the shadows and grabbed their third member Aoi. Daisuke was the one with the scroll but they couldn't pass without entire team. When they went back to find Aoi they found him unconscious at the feet of a boy with red hair.

"Hand over your scroll or I'll take it by force."

Both Ame Genin laughed at the boy. He must have taken Aoi down with surprise attack. The kid looked five or six years younger than them. "How about this, you tell us where your team is so we can take their scroll and we won't beat the crap out of you." Daisuke said confident in his ability to beat the brat.

The boy just grinned and his weird eyes seemed to glow "I'd like to see you try."

"What was that you little brat? Looks like we'll have to teach you a lesson!" Daisuke said charging at the boy with a kunai. Just as Daisuke was about to reach the child he was grabbed by a massive skeletal hand and slammed into the ground, cratering it and knocking him out instantly.

Hachiro, dropped his kunai and began to back away in fear. The boy was now surrounded by what looked like a ghostly skeletal ribcage with one arm on the left side and a gold glow. Turning he tried to run away but he felt a chain wrap around his ankle and begin reeling him back.

"Not so fast. I need you to tell me where the scroll is."

-0-0-

Ichiro, Isao and Mikio, Genin from Kusa, were grinning. They had found a lone kunoichi with pink hair in the forest and they wouldn't be held liable for anything that happened "Hey there baby." Isao said with a perverted sneer on his face "Why don't you come over here so we can show you a good time?"

The girl just smiled "I'm sorry but I have to meet up with my team soon. Would you mind giving me your scroll?"

Ichiro barked out a laugh "Hah sorry but I don't mind giving you something else…"

The girls demeanor seemed to change and suddenly the three Kusa Genin felt danger "O well. I tried to negotiate." In a burst of speed the girl disappeared from Ichiro's sight. He heard a loud crack and the sound of bark splintering and turned to see Isao buried half way into the trunk of a tree and the kunoichi with her arm still extended from the punch. Time seemed to slow down as she spun and placed a roundhouse kick on Ichiro's jaw, shattering it and sending him flying.

The girl turned to Mikio who had dropped to his ass and wet his pants. She was still smiling but her posture said that she would have no problem breaking him like what she just did to his team mates. Cracking her knuckles the kunoichi stomped just short of Mikio's family jewels, cratering the ground.

"Now would you please tell me where your scroll is?"

-0-0-

Osamu, Rokuro and Shigeo, Genin from Ame, were setting up their camp when they felt a spike of heat from their left. That was their only warning before an arrow made of flame landed in the center of their camp and exploded. Shigeo was instantly knocked out while Osamu and Rokuro only sustained minor burns. Through the smoke a figure charged at Osamu, and even though Osamu had the size advantage he was injured and his assailant was much faster than him. He swung at his opponent and missed before the figure in the smoke disappeared. He felt a hard blow on the back of his head before he lost consciousness. When the smoke cleared Rokuro saw their assailent, a black haired boy with odd red eyes, standing over the unconscious form of Osamu. Rokuro palmed two kunai and charged at the boy, swinging one of his kunai before it was blocked by a sword seemingly made of pure flame. The sword cut clean though his kunai and into his shoulder and the wound was instantly cauterized. Rokuro fell to the ground clutching his shoulder and screaming in agony.

"Tell me where your scroll is."

-0-0-

-clearing in the Forest of Death;

"So what scrolls do we have?" Naruto said dropping the scroll he got from the Ame team onto the ground, an action that was mirrored by Sasuke and Sakura.

"Looks like Konoha had the same idea you did Sasuke. The two teams that we attacked that weren't allied with Konoha both had earth scrolls while the team from Kusa had a heaven scroll." Said Sakura

"Yeah. Naruto you hold onto one pair. Me and Sakura will take one scroll of heaven and scroll of earth."

Team Seven distributed the scrolls and were about to leave when Naruto sensed a large flux of wind natured Chakra coming straight at them. Summoning his Susanoo he grabbed both Sasuke and Sakura and braced himself as a massive gust of wind tore into the clearing.

"Are you guys alright?" Naruto said uncrossing his arms as his Susanoo released Sasuke and Sakura

Sasuke and Sakura both nodded as a feminine Shinobi with long black hair and an extremely long tongue stepped into the clearing.

"Ku ku ku ku how impressive Naruto-kun."

-0-0-

Kakashi was at a dango hut drinking tea. As he reached for his tea cup a crack appeared in it.

"That can't be good…"

-0-0-

**AN: Ok done. Sorry for the shorter chapter but they should start getting longer and faster from here on out since honestly for me the Chunin exam arc is pretty tedious. Anyway I'll leave the poll up for another chapter or two. Eh… not much to say this time really. Review and Favorite!**

**Review Q&A (WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)**

**Enlace: You'll see next chapter**

**Jimisthename:1 not quite yet but he will get there**

**2 Kakashi is S-rank Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are all B-rank borderline A-rank if they get desperate**

**3 He will but not for a while. I find death helps with character development and Naruto just being able to revive everyone would make the story too fluffy for me**

**4 Because… well would you swap eyes with your best friend just for more powers? (That you wouldn't even know how to use btw, also there is a chance that your friend might lose his eyesight if the transplant doesn't take)**

**5 I try to update regularly but when I have to write canon-plot line I get really lazy… like the next chapter will probably come out faster since a lot of it are my ideas**

**6 Yeah but it will be more specialized. You'll see Chidori again dw**

**7 nope. I might but probably not**

**8 no what visited Naruto is actually the basis of a rather popular fic. I haven't read it because mom/son incest kinda creeps me out if you know what fic I'm talking about**

**9 Hell yeah I'm going to do that. I think in my author notes earlier in the story I said I was going to ^_^**

**10 I honestly don't think we get a very good portrayal of him in canon… but well… let's just say you're going to be seeing a lot of Orochimaru in part two**


	13. Chapter 12: Fight for your lives

**I was going to stop writing this story but then I took a muse to the writer's block**

Fight for Your Lives

"Ku ku ku ku ku very impressive Naruto-kun…" the strange Kusa shinobi said, her long tongue seemingly shaking in excitement.

Taking a step forward the woman threw off the straw hat she had and slowly began releasing her killing intent. "I had meant to test each of you individually… but I suppose all three at once is fine too… perhaps this is how Hanzo felt…"

Team Seven was unconsciously taking a step back with every step the Kusa shinobi took forward. They had experienced this level of killing intent from Hidan and Kakuzu but that time they had Kakashi, Zabuza and Haku, plus plenty of time to prepare.

Naruto grit his teeth and fought his urge to run away as fast as he could. "You're obviously not a Genin… who the hell are you and why are you here!" The image of Haku's dying face flashed through Naruto's mind hardening his resolve.

The woman chuckled "You're right. I'm not a Genin… as for who I am… you may call me Orochimaru… "

Team Seven took another step back almost in synch. Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin and one of the most powerful Shinobi in the world. For some reason he was interested enough in them to break into the Chunin exams and ambush them. Even though it didn't provide much solace it did slightly comfort the three Genin that the Snake Sannin wasn't here to just kill them.

"…and as for why I'm here… I believe I just told you." Orochimaru smirked before he disappeared in a burst of speed.

"I'm here to test you."

Naruto grunted as his Susanoo's ribcage was cracked by a punch from the strange Kusa Shinobi. He manifested the Kubikiribocho and slashed at the Shinobi. The Shinobi just jumped back and regurgitated some odd long sword before lunging at Naruto.

At the point Sasuke and Sakura had gotten their nerves back. Sakura ducked under the Shinobi's lung and planted an upper cut in the Shinobi's gut. Orochimaru was blasted upward before he righted herself and landed on a tree.

Of all the people to ambush them during the Chunin exams it would have to be the treacherous Snake Sannin _'Got to pull out all the stops here…' _Sasuke thought sending Chakra to his eyes. This was what they had trained for, what they had bled for. Orochimaru himself was a bit of a tall order for their first time without any outside help, but they had to take off the training wheels at some point. The Snake Sannin jumped off the tree he was on just as it exploded in black flames.

Grinning madly the man landed on another tree before he blasted towards Sasuke, sword extended, intent of finding out if his power as anything like his brothers… until he was once again sent flying by a well-timed punch from Sakura.

"Naruto now!" Sakura said before she crossed her arms and closed her eyes _'Kaimon __**(Gate of Opening)**__…OPEN!' _. Dashing forward in a blur as Chakra exploded from her Sakura suppressed a wince as she felt her muscles get torn to shreds before being instantly healed again from the regenerative Chakra she was receiving from the black piercing on her ear.

Orochimaru grinned as how the girl was about to try to fight him in a Taijutsu match. Summoning a snake from his sleeve to take care of his sword the Snake Sannin rose an arm to block the pink haired girls punch…

… and wincing as the girls punch snapped clean through his arm and sent him flying into the forest.

While Sakura usually used simple Chakra manipulation to increase the strength of her attacks, her natural strength had skyrocketed while training with Gai and Lee as well as learning how to open the first three Gates. During a team get together she mentioned it to Naruto and they came up with a solution to the draw backs of using the Gates for her. Naruto would send her purified Kyubi Chakra to her to regenerate the damage done by opening the Gates, along with her medical Ninjutsu caused the damage to be almost instantly negated. She could only use the First Gate for fifteen minutes, the Second Gate for five and the Third Gate for one but Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto didn't plan on defeating the Snake Sannin in the first place…

Orochimaru opened his mouth to regurgitate a new form, revealing the more familiar appearance of the Snake Sannin when he saw three giant blue Magatama bound by a thread of gold Chakra flying at him. Using a quick body replacement with a mud clone Orochimaru wasn't prepared for the resulting shockwave from when the Magatama exploded.

The Yasaka Magatama **(Eight Slopes Curved Jewels) **was one of the techniques of the Susanoo. Over the last two months Naruto had discovered this technique on the tablet in the Naka Shrine. He was able to make his particular version more deadly due to his Chakra being more dense and powerful then regular Chakra. One of Naruto's Magatama was the equivalent of about three explosive tags.

The explosion sent Orochimaru flying. Even though he hadn't been in the very center of the impact like his mud clone he was still close enough that the shock wave reached him. Regurgitating another body the Snake Sannin cursed as he had to jump away to avoid an arrow made of black flames that exploded covering parts of the forest in black flames.

Landing on a branch Orochimaru saw Sakura once again charging at him. Not wanting to make the same mistake again rather than trying to block the pink haired kunoichi's shots he began dodging them using his snake style, a style that revolved around speed and flexibility. As he was fighting Sakura, Orochimaru noted how more concentrated versions of the black fire arrows that didn't explode were covering the opening that Sakura left, more or less forcing Orochimaru to be on the defensive. Looking at the female member of Team Seven's eyes he noted that there were two extra rings outside of her pupil.

'_Where have I seen that before…' _Orochimaru thought turning his legs into the bottom of a snake and slithering down the tree to get some breathing room. Looking around the Snake Sannin cursed. Every tree around him was covered in black flames and with the amount of smoke coming from the area a proctor or two was sure to come check it out soon enough. Seeing another set of Magatama flying towards him, Orochimaru jumped away as the ground beneath him exploded. This was unfortunate for him. He was running out of time. The Snake Sannin bit his thumb tried to rub it on his summoning tattoo on his arm but he found himself ensnared in Ninja wire, suspended in mid-air.

"Enton: Kagutsuchi Moderu:Ryu!" **(Blaze Release: Added Tools of the Earth Lord Model: Dragon)**"

A massive dragon head made of black flame sped towards the Snake Sannin incinerating him in seconds. The steam of black fire held for five seconds before it dispersed revealing completely charred and blackened dirt and Ninja wire that had been completely melted.

Sasuke's eyes widened as a shadow darted out from behind a tree and planted a foot in his side, breaking ribs and sending him flying.

Orochimaru cursed as he prepared to mark the last Uchiha. That last attack would have killed him if it had hit. It was a combination of summoning a snake to block the attack for an extra second, body replacement and that he could use his regurgitation Jutsu with only his head. He was about to extend his neck when he had to jump back to avoid getting turned into paste by a falling Sakura.

"I grow tired of these games! Seneijashu **(Hidden Shadow Snake Hands). " **Sending tens of snakes with blade coming out of their mouths at Sakura the kunoichi knew she couldn't dodge otherwise the snakes would hit Sasuke behind her.

'_Shit I've got to use it… KAIMON __**(Gate of Opening)**__, KYUMON __**(Gate of Healing)**__, SEIMON __**(Gate of Life) **__OPEN!' _

Sakura burst forward tearing through the snakes as her fists glowing a dark pink "Roseo Metel **(Cherry Blossom Blizzard)" **Reaching Orochimaru Sakura began punching the Snake Sannin as fast and as hard as she could, causing specs of pink energy to ricochet off making a miniature storm and finishing off with a massive blow to the Snake Sannin's stomach that send him flying back.

The Roseo Metel was a much weaker, toned down version of Gai's Morning Peacock. When Sakura used the Roseo Metel her fists didn't catch on fire and the cherry blossom effect was from flecks of energy that ricochets off of whatever she was hitting. It was also much shorter, weaker and slower but it was enough of a finishing move for the pink haired kunoichi.

Naruto jumped down with two Chakra sabers (1) "Sakura, go take Sasuke and get yourselves healed. I'll hold this guy off."

"What the hell are you talking about Naruto!" Sasuke shouted with wide eyes

"Yeah we're not going to leave you behind!" Sakura shouted even though she was on one knee.

"I'm not saying leave me behind. I'm saying let me hold him off until you and Sasuke are ready to fight again. Your muscles are basically shredded and Sasuke doesn't look much better."

Sakura looked like she wanted to protest but she just nodded, slipped an arm under Sasuke's arm and jumped away.

Turning his head Naruto narrowed his eyes "Come out. I can sense that your there."

Chuckling rang throughout the clearing. Orochimaru seemed to slither out from the forest covered in black flames Kusanagi **(Grass Mowing Long sword)** in hand. "Ku ku ku ku ku. You do know that even if you delay me I will eventually catch up to them."

"I don't plan on delaying you…" Naruto said with his hair covering his eyes. He raised his head to reveal whiskered cheeks and slit purple eyes with concentric rings.

'_Those are!'_

"**I PLAN ON KILLING YOU!"**

Naruto burst forward as two tails emerged from his lower back. His two Chakra sabers clashed against Orochimaru before they cracked and explode sending both combatants flying back.

Feeling the Two Tail Chakra cloak forming Naruto flipped and pushed forward on a tree sending it toppling back as the red head shot towards Orochimaru who had regurgitated another body as the Snake Sannin had fallen into the black flames.

Materializing the Kubikiribocho **(Decapitating Carving Knife)**, which was glowing an angry red, Naruto clashed blades with Orochimaru. Sparks flew as the carving knife and the long sword clashed against each other again and again. It was an almost ephemeral battle as the two clashed among the forest of black flames.

Normally a grown man like Orochimaru would easily overpower a twelve year old boy but that boy had three things on his side. First was that the Kubikiribocho was easily larger and heavier than the Kusanagi. Second was the primordial Chakra of the Kyubi running through his veins and third was the increased Chakra control the Rinnegan afforded him allowing him to use a bastardized version of the super strength technique Sakura and the Slug Sannin used. Rather than the precise control that their version used, Naruto's version compressed huge amounts of Chakra and released it in a manner similar to that of a Bijudama **(Tailed Beast Sphere) **but with explosive force rather than an explosion. The result was a bastardized version of the technique that Sakura and Tsunade used that took about one hundred times more Chakra. And Naruto had that much Chakra. However the reason Orochimaru was able to match him blow for blow was because the Snake Sannin wasn't meeting each of his blows head on. The Snake Sannin would parry his strikes letting the force bleed out as Naruto didn't have the body to stabilize his swings as he was only a twelve year old boy.

Orochimaru grinned feeling his bones creak as he diverted another one of Naruto's strikes, all of which easily had the power to bisect him. In a few years Naruto would truly be an unstoppable force of nature, comparable to the beast inside of him. At the moment the Snake Sannin decided. While it would be nice to mark the Haruno and the Uchiha, his boy was now his main objective. Parrying one of Naruto's overhead swings the Snake Sannin lunged forward, extending the Kusanagi. Naruto jumped back summoning the ribcage of Susanoo to deflect the extending sword. "Senei Tajashu! **(Many Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)**" Orochimaru shouted retracting his sword and sending four large snakes at Naruto. Naruto summoned the arms of Susanoo, each with an extra forearm that grabbed the snakes before Naruto spun his sword beheading all four snakes. Throwing the snake heads away Naruto dispersed his Susanoo and changed a Chidori **(One Thousand Birds) **and shaped it into the form of a long sword. Jumping off his tree as it fell from being scorched by black flames Naruto dove at the smirking Snake Sannin.

Clashing his Chidori long sword against the Kusanagi Naruto winced as he felt his body begin to numb more. Extended use of the Kyubi's Chakra still hurt him because he hadn't mastered its use. His Chakra burst technique had already chewed through eighty percent of his Chakra even after he had released the Reverse Consumption Seal. Naruto was able to match Orochimaru for another four strikes before his arms numbed completely and he dropped his swords and fell to his knees, the Kyubi's Chakra dispersing. Smirking Orochimaru stabbed the Kusanagi into Naruto's stomach.

Naruto coughed up blood feeling his stomach erupt in pain. Even though the Kyubi's Chakra would burn any poison out of his system that didn't mean he didn't at least feel the effects first and now the Kusanagi was releasing poison into both his stomach and his bloodstream.

"Ku ku ku… very impressive Naruto-kun… not to mention those eyes of yours… truly given a few years you will become the next God of Shinobi… with the proper guidance of course…" summoning a snake that held the curse seal in its venom sacs the rogue Sannin had it bite Naruto on the neck before it slithered off.

"My name is Orochimaru young one… when this village shows it's true colors… when you realize it has become nothing more than a sham, completely disregarding the reason for which it was built… come find me… and I will give you the power to protect that which you hold most dear…"

Slowly losing consciousness as he fell face first into the ground Naruto was barely able to hear the last words Orochimaru spoke, filled with sorrow and regret, a near complete reversal compared to his earlier tone of voice.

"When you finally see both sides of the leaf, come find me."

-0-0-

As Orochimaru looked down at the unconscious red haired boy he noted that the fire was getting uncomfortable close. Picking the unconscious boy up Orochimaru jumped over to a section of the forest that wasn't in danger of getting consumed by the black flames as the stab wound in his stomach had already been closed. Gently laying the boy down a memory from twelve years ago came unbidden to Orochimaru's mind.

"_If something happens to us and Jiraiya-sensei can't fulfill his duty to both the village and his godson… please look after him for us…"_

Making sure the boy was safe Orochimaru set off to catch Sasuke and Sakura. _'Minato… Kushina… I won't let your son become another sacrificial pawn for this corrupt village…'_

In his haste Orochimaru didn't notice Naruto's bright red hair turn bone white… before it turned a dark blood red as the curse mark seemingly dissolved and dark red marks began forming around his eye and on his cheeks…

-0-0-

"How's your Chakra doing?" Sasuke said rubbing his now healed ribs and glancing at Sakura at his side. It had been about ten minutes since they had left Naruto to hold back the overpowering Sannin and both of them were worried for the red heads safety.

Sakura closed her eyes and frowned. Even though she had healed most of the physical damage her body was still slightly numb from the infusion of Biju Chakra she got from Naruto. She wouldn't be able to use the Kyubi's Chakra so that also meant she wouldn't be able to use the gates without being down for the count. "Forty percent and I won't be able to use the gates, how about you?"

"I'm at thirty percent. That last attack was supposed to finish him off..." Sasuke said grimacing. They were in no condition to fight the Snake Sannin. His last attack was the strongest one he had in his arsenal at the moment. The Enton: Kagutsuchi Modure: Ryu super condensed the flames of Amaterasu **(Illuminating Heaven) **to the point where it basically became solid, allowing it to near instantly burn through anything in its path. However Sasuke didn't have enough control over the black flames of Amaterasu to use it freely so he had to use ninja wire as a guide for the flames.

"And it almost did Sasuke-kun…"

Sasuke and Sakura both froze as their heads slowly turned and their eyes widened in horror. The Snake Sannin slowly stepped out of the canopy his long sword dripping with blood.

"N-N-Naruto…" Sakura said tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.

Chuckling Orochimaru shook his head. "It's not quite what you think. As I said I'm just here to test you. Naruto-kun is about thirty yards from here, safe from the black flames… your team mate truly impressed me… can you both do the same?" Orochimaru grinned before brandishing the Kusanagi and charging forward.

Sasuke mentally cursed forming a half Tiger seal with his left hand "Enton: Kagutsuchi Moderu: Tsurugi **(Blaze Release: Added Tools of the Earth Lord Model: Sword)**!" Black fire condensed into a double edged sword in Sasuke's right hand. While he could just manipulate the flames of Amaterasu with his fire manipulation using a hand seal and saying the name caused the technique to be more powerful. Wincing as he felt his already low Chakra drop another five percent Sasuke dashed forward to meet the Sannin's blade…

"**GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Three heads turned at the inhuman roar as the sound of something crashing through the trees rang out. Eyes widened as Naruto's new form was revealed. Blood red hair, six thick dark red whisker marks, and marks similar to those of the Kyubi over one of his eyes (2). The eye that had the mark going over it was a dark blue Rinnegan while his other eye was dull and unfocused pale blue Rinnegan. Two blood red tails with black tips swayed behind him compared to the typical orange of his partial transformation. But the thing that was the most different about the usually cheerful red head was the bloodthirsty grin upon his face and the crazed look in his eyes.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. With his Sharingan he could see Naruto's normal Chakra but mixed into that was a strange green Chakra that was slowly growing.

With another roar of madness the transformed Naruto jumped down with his arm drawn back. The three Shinobi all took to the trees as the ground where they were standing was completely pulverized sending dust everywhere.

"What did you do to Naruto!" Sasuke shouted at the Snake Sannin. The look of surprise on Orochimaru's face told him that the Snake Sannin didn't quite expect this either. Orochimaru's eyes narrowed for a moment before they widened.

"I will explain later! For now we must incapacitate your team mate before he can cause any more damage!" Orochimaru shouted at Sasuke. Biting his thumb he wiped blood over a tattoo on his arm summoning a giant snake that lunged at Naruto trying to constrict him.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke said jumping next to the Snake Sannin and narrowing his eyes.

"I can't explain the specifics right now but in essence his body can't handle the energy he is taking in and is causing him to go berserk…"

Ripping straight through the summon Naruto charged at the tree the two where on. They both jumped off as Naruto barreled into the tree like a freight train sending it crashing down.

Sakura landed next to the two "Can you do anything about it?" the situation was kind of surreal. They were working with an S-class missing nin to try to subdue their team mate who had gone berserk and previously mentioned missing nin was the reason why said team mate had gone berserk as far as they knew.

Orochimaru frowned "I'm not sure… if we can hold him down for long enough I should be able to remove the Chakra that's causing problems but if either of you gets hit by him you would die."

"That Chakra you're talking about…" Sasuke said turning to Orochimaru "Is it that green Chakra?"

The Snake Sannin nodded as Naruto stepped out of the dust cloud kicked up from the toppling of the tree. The red head's grin widened and he looked like he was about to charge when he stopped, screamed and grabbed his head, screwing his eyes shut…

-0-0-

"_Where am I?" _Naruto said looking around. He appeared to be in a forest clearing, albeit the forest was much less dense than the Forest of Death. However after he had looked around for a moment Naruto immediately recognized where he was. It was a place Team Seven would often have to go to in order to get Kakashi when he was late. The Konoha Memorial Stone.

"_Why did you have to die… Tou-san… Kaa-san…" _

Hearing what was little more than a whisper Naruto turned his head to see a young boy with pale skin and long black hair standing in front of the memorial stone. The boy seemed to be fairly deep in depression. Naruto, wanting to comfort the boy, tried to put his hand on the boy's shoulder but when he did his hand just phased through. Naruto stepped back in shock inspecting the rest of his body. He seemed to be in some ethereal form as he couldn't interact with anything solid. He also noted that he was hovering about an inch above ground. _'I wonder if this is how it feels to be a ghost…'_

The sound of footsteps came from behind the pale boy and Naruto. They both turned to see an elderly woman with bright red hair in two buns on the sides of her head and brown eyes. The woman put her hand on the pale boys shoulder. _"I can sense that you are troubled young one. What ails you?"_

The woman must have been important because after she had spoken the pale boy seemed to straighten a little _"It's nothing Mito-sama."_

Naruto's eyes widened. Uzumaki Mito was the first Jinchuriki of the Kyubi. That meant that whatever he was seeing happened almost half a century in the past, seeing as how the first Jinchuriki of the Kyubi appeared to be in her late seventies.

"_Come now Orochimaru-kun. You can tell me, I promise I won't tell Hiruzen-kun." _Mito said with a grandmotherly smile. Naruto's eyes widened even further. The pale boy was Orochimaru? Then again they did look A LOT alike…

The younger Orochimaru seemed to struggle with something before he sighed and his shoulders slumped _"It's just that… Tou-san and Kaa-san died for this village and the only thing that they get is their name on a rock? That's the only lasting legacy they leave in this world? It just feels so… small… so fragile…"_

Mito wrapped her arms around Orochimaru and pulled him into a hug. Choked sobs from the pale boy told Naruto that he was crying. _"Orochimaru-kun… your parents didn't die for nothing… do you know the reason why my husband founded this village?"_ the boy shook his head. The elderly Uzumaki smiled and put a hand on the future Snake Sannin's head. _"Back before there were villages the Elemental Nations were in a state of constant war… children would be sent out to battlefields and fathers would have to bury their own sons. Even those without any talent for the Shinobi arts in a clan would be trained and sent out to die. "_

"_My husband created this village so that those things wouldn't have to happen anymore. He created this village so that the parents would be able to pass on their ideals and values to the younger generation, rather than having to bury them in graves. He wanted to create a place where children could be children."_

"_That is the legacy of your parents, and the legacy of any Shinobi that dies in the line of duty. A place where the young may be young, if only for a little while."_

-0-0-

The berserk Naruto slowly removed his hands from his head, once again with a blood thirsty grin on his face, as a third tail rose from behind him. Both of the Konoha Genin unconsciously took a step back. They had only ever seen Naruto go up to two tails. Seeing this Orochimaru rubbed blood over his summoning tattoo and summoned two snakes that picked up the Genin

"Wha-"

"Let me take care of this." Orochimaru said brandishing the Kusanagi "The both of you go put out the inferno of black flame before it burns the whole forest down."

Sakura and Sasuke nodded before the snakes that they were on shot off towards the building inferno.

"Senetajashu." The Snake Sannin said as several dozen snakes shot from his sleeve towards Naruto. The boy's grin seemed to widen even more as he shot forward and began tearing through the snakes, arms, legs and tails swinging. Any stray bite or cut was near instantly healed and the paralyzing poison seemed to not be affecting him at all. A blade shot out from the oncoming swarm of snakes piercing Naruto's shoulder and pinning him to a tree behind him. Orochimaru burst forward with his palm extended, trying to grab Naruto to remove the natural energy from him. The berserk Naruto simply ripped the blade out of his shoulder and jumped back. The blade had cut clean into Naruto's shoulder revealing torn flesh and chipped bone, his arm only being attached by the flesh and ligaments under the shoulder.

The Snake Sannin couldn't suppress a wince as the flesh and bone began to steam and seemingly knit itself together. Naruto's natural healing factor and the Chakra of the Kyubi were now all working together, healing what should have been a crippling injury in seconds.

Naruto let out a howl as he threw his head back and his three tails pointed towards his mouth. Red, blue and green Chakra all began coalescing forming a pitch black orb with a green. Orochimaru immediately recognized the technique and bit his thumb running through hand seals.

"**GOORAAAHHHHHHHHHHH"**

"Kuchiyose: Mini Rashomon **(Summoning: Mini Rashomon)**"

A pitch black ball with a green glow the size of a volley ball shot forward as a demonic gate about three times as tall as a person and two people wide rose from the ground. They both collided with a thunderous explosion kicking up enough dust to completely obscure vision.

A few moments passed in silence before Naruto suddenly threw his arms in a cross guard as Orochimaru burst from the dust and threw a punch, the markings around his eyes more pronounced. When the Snake Sannin's fist met the boy's arms there was a sickening crunching sound as Naruto flew backwards.

Orochimaru jumped after the boy as his tongue shot out and wrapped around Naruto's ankle throwing him to the ground at the Sannin's feet. Orochimaru descended with one of his legs raised to perform an axe kick. One of Naruto's tails seemed to elongate and swatted the Snake Sannin out of the air like a fly before Naruto was also pulled along due to Orochimaru's tongue still being wrapped around his ankle. Naruto flew towards the Snake Sannin, pulled by his ankle until a bone crushing kick connected with his jaw, shattering it and sending him crashing into a tree that began to fall over.

Naruto emerged from the cloud of dust from the collapsed tree, his jaw already healed and his bloodthirsty grin in place. Orochimaru cursed in his head as the boy seemed to be an unstoppable force. In addition to the enhanced speed, strength and perception Sage Mode granted the boy's bastardized version seemed to also enhance his healing factor to impossible levels.

As Chakra gathered in the boys hand to form a sword Orochimaru held the Kusanagi in front of him. Naruto's bastardized Sage Mode in conjunction with the Three Tailed Chakra Cloak just made him too strong. At this point the only thing the Snake Sannin could do without killing the boy was to just hold him back until he regained control of himself…

-0-0-

-Naruto's mindscape;

"What in the hell is this!" Naruto said as he sliced through another blob shaped vaguely like a human with the Kubikiribocho. After the odd vision Naruto had awoken to find himself being defended from a swarm of green, human shaped blobs by Kubi and the Kyubi in human form, wreathed in an odd golden aura. Both of the women were tearing through the blobs with inhuman efficiency, a single swipe from one of the Kyubi's tails devastated hundreds of them and Kubi seemed to somehow be keeping up with the Kyubi in numbers through pure almost inhuman swordsmanship. Even so the green blobs seemed to be appearing at a faster rate than how quickly they were destroying them.

"**They began appearing after the snake marked you. I would have tried to figure out what happened but the seal warped and these things began appearing."** The Kyubi shouted over from where she was fighting.

"Naruto what do these things' Chakra network look like?!"

"They don't have any! Their basically massive blobs of green Chakra!" Naruto shouted in response to Kubi.

'_**Green Chakra… could it be…' **_**"Naruto, Kubi-san cover me for a moment." **The Kyubi shouted as she jumped away from a massive cluster of green blobs. Both Naruto and Kubi dashed over, Naruto summoning his Susanoo. Closing her eyes the Kyubi concentrated on her Chakra that was flowing through Naruto's system. When she found the problem she couldn't help but curse. Naruto's body was absorbing the natural energy of the environment at absurd rates due to the enzymes in the curse mark Orochimaru gave him. While normally if someone had nature Chakra in their system, and couldn't balance it with their natural Chakra it would cause them to turn to stone. However it seemed that whoever those enzymes, which had integrated into Naruto's body due to the absurd Uzumaki natural regeneration and the Kyubi's Chakra, belonged to had a body that could handle an imbalance of natural energy and passively absorbed it too. What they were fighting was apparently the rampant natural Chakra in Naruto's body.

Mentally cursing again the Kyubi once again began taking out as many as the green blobs as she could. Right now their only hope was for someone to knock Naruto out and remove the energy from his system…

-0-0-

"Hitassu... **(Sure Kill)**

-0-0-

Orochimaru cursed as the berserk Naruto began charging up another Bijudama **(Tailed Beast Ball). **This one was noticeably larger and more powerful than the last one. Smearing some blood on his thumb the Snake Sannin prepared to summon the Roshomon again…

-0-0-

… Enton: Kurohoshi Ryusei!" **(Blaze Release: Black Star Meteor)**

-0-0-

The Snake Sannin's eyes opened wide as the boy who had been charging up a Bijudama was hit in the back by an arrow made of black flame that exploded, destabilizing the Bijudama causing it to also explode. The Sannin wasn't surprised by the explosion. What surprised the Sannin was that he hadn't sensed the arrow until it had impacted. For something to completely by pass the natural senses of a Sage Mode user it would have to be moving almost faster than the speed of sound. Focusing again Orochimaru shot forward into the dust cloud quickly reaching Naruto and placing his hand on the boy's chest, absorbing the natural energy in the boy. When Naruto's hair returned to its natural bright red, the markings on his face, minus the whisker marks which faded but still remained, and his tails disappeared the Sannin let out a sigh of relief.

-0-0-

Kubi, Naruto and the Kyubi all let out a sigh of relief as the green human-like blobs they had been fighting began to disappear

-0-0-

A few minutes later Sasuke and Sakura both walked out of the canopy. Sasuke had a black bow, curved bow with red accents(3) that seemed to turn into flame and fade away. "Alright now that we calmed down Naruto can you tell us what in the hell that was?" Sasuke said with a scowl on his face.

"Mmm I think I'll keep that to myself for now Sasuke-kun." The rogue Sannin said with a smile before he stood up and began walking away.

"Wait!" Sakura said feeling somewhat frustrated at how the Sannin seemed to not want to fight anymore "Why did you come here in the first place!?"

"Like I said… I came here to test you… but I suppose I'll extend the same offer to you that I did Naruto-kun… when you see both sides of the leaf come and find me…" Orochimaru said before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves leaving an earth scroll behind.

Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other before Sasuke slipped one arm under Naruto's shoulder and lifted him up while Sakura took the scroll the Sannin left behind.

-0-0-

**AN: Ok I know I said that I was going to rewrite this story but I decided not to and here is why. I am slightly OCD and as I'm sure many of you have figured out my story diverges from canon A LOT. That causes my OCD to give me insane writers block because I'm all like 'THAT WOULDN'T WORK IN CANON' or 'I'M MAKING NARUTO TOO MUCH OF A SUE'. So I wrote like two chapters for the other story before my muse returned for THIS story. So what I decided to do is just work on the other story when I get the writer's block from my OCD again. Hell I might even do a story that's basically like canon but with fem Sasuke(cause it makes so much more sense. Hell in this story I'm going to try to give Sasuke and Naruto a heterosexual life partners vibe _) and more realistic power progression. Anyway about this chapter Orochimaru is acting super OOC I know. All I'll say about that is the Kyubi's influence began from when she was first sealed in Mito and it changed some things. I'll elaborate more on the events that shaped Orochimaru later. Review and Favorite!**

**1 Sabers like the ones Wrath had in FMAB**

**2 Think the black marks Kurama has over his eyes**

**3 Daedric bow from Skyrim**

**Review question corner (WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)**

**SETHRX7: It will be explained in the future.**

**Jimisthename: 10) Yes but not for a while**

**11) Eh… it's more like… idk… I can't really say anything without giving away huge spoilers…**

**Tarranger: I think the whole thing with the E. Mangekyou is that it's like one set of eyes to see and the other to use the powers**


	14. not a chapter but still read please

Ok so I finally decided what I'm going to do. I'm just going to go back and flat out edit the things that I ended up not liking about what I've done with the story so far… on that list are which path Naruto gets, his current power level, Susanoo, him getting the Kubikiribocho and the fem-Kyubi

Ok while that doesn't really constitute a chapter release the next thing does. The poll that I put up a while back had me changing some of the rinnegan powers but leaving others. One of the things I want to change in my edit is removing Naruto's Susanoo for now (I feel it makes him to op), the fem-kyubi (I'm going to leave it a giant fox for a while… it will get a female human form but that won't be for a while) and giving him the gravity manipulation, but I think it would be cooler if it was vector manipulation. Like accelerator from toaru majutsu no index but not on his level yet (Maybe at the very end of the story) so yeah putting up a poll for that and I will probably finishing editing the chapters by maybe… end of tomorrow? Yeah. If anyone has a better idea for the Deva path PM me and if I end up using it I'll make sure to give you credit.


	15. hiatus notice

yeah... sorry guys but my muse for this story is like dead right now so im going to call a temporary hiatus. im going to be working on some other storys and if my muse comes back ill start up this story again but for now i got nothing


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